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HISTORY OF

STORY COUNTY

IOWA

A RECORD OF SETTLEMENT, ORGANIZATION,
PROGRESS AND ACHIEVEMENT

By W. O. PAYNE

Local history is the ultimate substance of national history— Wilson

ILLUSTRATED

VOLUME! r.

CHICAGO:

THE S. J. CLARKE PUBLISHING CO.

19U

THE' NEW Yopi-

P'JBLIC LIBRARY

;);>,S4:

J

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I
Foreword 5

CHAPTER n
A General View 14

CHAPTER HI
General View — (continued) 22

CHAPTER IV
The Early Settlement 29

CHAPTER V
The New County 38

'CHAPTER VI
Reminiscences by Col. Scott 52

CHAPTER VII

Reminiscences by Col. Scott — (continued) 61

CHAPTER Viy.-, / '■

Reminiscences by Col. Scott — (continued) ': ;'.'. .'..'...; 72

CHAPTER IJ^-;';; ; „;,_^ ,

Reminiscences by Col. Scott — (concluded) . '. . 1 .■.'','.'. .'. ' .';'..*.'. 82

CHAPTER X

County Affairs before the War 93

CHAPTER XI

County Affairf before the War — (continued) 103

iii

iv COXTENTS

CHAPTKR XII
County Affairs before the War — (concluded) 109

CHAPTKR Mil
Pioneer Reminiscences 117

CHAPTKR .\1\"
Mrs. Hannali Kellogg — 1855 and later 129

CHAPTKR XV
Pioneer Interviews by Mrs. A. M. Payne 142

CHAPTKR X\"l
Early Days in Howard 156

CHAPTKR .WII
Tales of Early Days 1 70

CHAPTKR Will
Story County in the War 179

CHAPTKR XIX
Story County in Various Regiments 187

CHAPTER XX

Third Iowa Infantr>- 198

CHAPTER XXL
Second Iowa Cavalr>- 217

CHAPTKR XXII
Twenty-third Iowa Infantr)- 226

■•.•••:':••■•.■••■ •.^»lr'^i:7"|iR -"ixm

Thirty-second •IilU:J '•Wf.Oitry/V! ._.\" j/.l 338

••:GnA;PTKR XXIV
Home Affairs in WarrjTliiiJ;;.vi \ ■ i 250

CHAPIER XXV
Home Affairs in War Time — ( if tntinurd ) 26j

riiAi'rrK .\.\\i

The Close of the W'.ir 275

CONTENTS V

CHAPTER XXVII
The Imprisonment of Robert Campbell 282

CHAPTER XXVIII
The Escape of Robert Campbell 296

CHAPTER XXIX
Robert Campbell Reaches Friends 309

CHAPTER XXX

The Decade After the War 1 324

CHAPTER XXXI
General Conditions Following the War 332

CHAPTER XXXII

Ames and the Narrow Gauge 341

CHAPTER XXXIII
Founding the College , 349

CHAPTER XXXIV

Fixing Nevada's Business Center i 355

CHAPTER XXXV

Politics Following the War 364

CHAPTER XXXVI
Politics Following the War — (continued) 372

CHAPTER XXXVII
Various Matters After the War 383

CHAPTER XXXVIII
Editorial Reminiscences 393

CHAPTER XXXIX
In the Latter Seventies 407

CHAPTER XL

Affairs in the Eighties 418

CHAPTER XLI
Politics in the Eighties 426

vi CONTENTS

CHAPTER XLII
Affairs in the Nineties 435

CHAPTER XLIII
Politics in the N incties 443

CHAPTER XLIV
The Easr Uicadc 448

CHAPTER XLV
Railroads and Ditches 455

CHAPTER XLVI
Politics of Last Decade 462

CHAPTER XLVI I
Conclusion 469

I~^

1 *f* J2 m

U. U. i'AVNK

History of Story County

CHAPTER I.
FOREWORD.

A History of Story County is a matter that has been once or twice at-
tempted as a whole, and has from time to time, by a great many different
people, been a subject of contributions in parts of varying importance and
interest. The compilation of such matters is a theme which is inviting but
which grows more and more formidable in appearance the more seriously
it is contemplated and definitely undertaken. When the author was asked
to undertake this work he felt that he probably had available as much of
the material needed as anyone had or could well have had, and as he has
endeavored to gather and assort this material and to add to it, he is still
impressed with the idea that there is an abundance of the material. At
the same time, the proposition of compiling a really complete history be-
comes more and more serious, and he knows that when the work shall be
completed, it is bound to have in it many omissions and to be unsatisfactory
in many respects. At the same time, in the belief that the work ought to
be done and that the material at hand ought to be put in the most available
shape, the work is undertaken in the hope that the result may be pleasing
if not satisfying.

In examining other works of this general character, we discover that a
large amount of space has been given to the review of the discovery of the
Mississippi River and the exploration of the Mississippi Valley, to the ac-
quirement and exploitation of the Louisiana Purchase, and to the history
of that portion of the country generally of which Iowa is a part, but in
which no inhabitants of Iowa, and still less of Story County, had any real
part to perform. Any review of this sort will here be made very brief
indeed. We believe that there is in sight enough material pertaining strictly
to Story County, or to people who are or have been parts of Story County,
to make this volume as large as it needs to be, and by condensing or omit-
ting the matters of Northwestern History, which in a proper sense must be
regarded as preliminary merely to any History of Story County, we shall
gain more space for matters of less general importance, but which, even

5

6 mSTURV UF STORY COUNTY

tlioiigh tlu-y may not have affected greatly the development of Story County
or the lives uf its citizens, are reasonably certain to be of more enduring
interest to the people of this immediate community, and which will be taken
as more significant of this community and of the people who have built
it up.

So far as the writer is able to ascertain. Story County had no history
whatever of its own prior to the admission of Iowa as a State in the
Union, save that from time to time the unoccupied territory, which now
constitutes the county, was assigned to one or another political division
and was finally, within the year the State was actually admitted, given
definite Iwundaries and the name it now bears. Not even an Indian tradi-
tion seems to pertain to this particular bit of territory. When the white
man came, he found the deer, the elk. and about all the other wild beasts
or wild fowl that are supiK)sed to have inhabited in recent times this part
of the country, excepting, perhaps, the buffalo, which we believe had been
nm out of this part of the country before the actual tide of immigration
reached thus far. In some parts of this county there have been reported
buffalo bones, but we have never heard of a permanent Indian encamp-
ment.

.So blank indeed must be the pages referring to this part of what might
he the History of Story County, that an explanation appears to be called
for. This explanation quite evidently arises from the original character
of the county. Tiic natural and reasonable choice of the Indian for his
more permanent abodes, and, so far as practicable, for his temporary en-
campments, was a wooded country, well drained and overlooking consider-
able streams. The bluffs overlooking the .\Iississi|)])i or the Missouri, the
banks of the Des Moines, the Cedar and the Iowa, typified the localities
where the Indian, the al)origine. delighted to make his habitat. The pur-
j>ose of agriculture, as develo|)ed under processes of tiled drainage, did not
particularly attract him. lie wanted a place where he could have abundant
fuel. l)e handy to fishing, employ canoe transjK^rtation when practical, and,
of course, have good hunting about. Hunting may have been alx)ut as
good in one place as another if the grass was abimdaiit. but fishing and
fuel and canoe transportation were Kiiind to hold him to the banks of the
larger >.l reams, except for f>ccasional diversions and excursions.

Such conditions as are here suggested were not inviting the Indian to
live in Story Coimty. and in passing, if may be said that their absence un-
doubtc<lly ha<l the effect of delaying materially the early settlement and
developmctit of the county. Story is essentially a flat county. The one
consiilcrablc stream pas'-inp through it is .Skunk River, anrl that stream
is not so very large now, while in the early days all the traditions relating
to it indicate that it was notable, not for the volume of water contained
in it, but for the almost ini()assable bogs that bortlered it. Upon the ron-
trary. counties both cast and west of Story have conditions essentially
different from those pre<lominating here before the improvement of the

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 7

land, and were therefore in an early day much more attractive both to the
Indian for his habitat and to the white man for settlement. Iowa River
to the east was the sort of a river that Indians like to live upon ; and it
is to be recorded that one consitlerable band of Indians that had once been
persuaded by the white man to give up their lands in southern Iowa and had
moved to Kansas, came back to Iowa, and with the proceeds of their an-
nuities from the government purchased lands on the white man's terms and
established on the banks of the Iowa in Tama County some forty miles
to the eastward what is now the one large Indian settlement in Iowa. Simi-
larly to the westward in Boone County and in the counties north and south
of Boone the country is broken by the Des Moines River, along which the
Indians had their trails and camps and up which the white man pushed his
earlier settlement. Near to these rivers, moreover, the Des Moines and
Iowa, there was plenty of room, plenty of fishing, plenty of hunting, plenty
of general means for the comfort and sustenance of the aborigines accord-
ing to their standards and they had no occasion to leave such an attractive
situation and undertake to establish themselves on the undrained lands of
Story County.

Another fact bears on the absence of Indian lore pertaining to Story
County. This fact pertains to the division of territory between the Sacs
and Foxes on the one hand and the Sioux or Dakotas on the other. This
division was made under the general inspiration and with the advice and
assistance of the white man, but it was made before the white man in any
considerable numbers had crossed the Mississippi into Iowa. It was the
result of a conference and political agreement effected at Prairie du Chien
in i82(S. and it recognized the fact that southeastern Iowa, so far as it was
occupied at all, was occupied chiefly by the Sacs and Foxes, whereas north-
em and western Iowa was occupied similarly, if occupied at all, by the
Dakotas or Sioux. The Sacs and Foxes were so closely allied as to be
spoken of nearly always in the same connection, and between them there
were no troubles, but as between the Sacs and Foxes on the one side and
the Sioux on the other, there was no end of troubles. Their hunting par-
ties collided, and the results of these collisions were reprisals. The two
elements seem to have been far enough apart so that it was not convenient
for them to engage'in any great wars, but whatever their difficulties lacked
in magnitude they made up in persistency. So the white man tried to fix
the matter up and the result was the agreement upon a division line ex-
tending from the Mississippi near the northeastern comer of Iowa to the
Missouri somewhere near Council Bluffs and having midway its most defi-
nite and most important point at what was known as the forks of the Des
Moines River. These forks were not those converging at Humboldt and
now known as the east and west forks of the Des Moines, but were the
Des Moines River proper, as it is now known, and the Boone River. These
forks converge almost on the county line between Webster and Hamilton
counties, and above their convergence the country was supposed to be Sioux

8 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

and below it Sac and Fox. The cstablisliment of this division line did not
entirely settle the trouble and so. by a later agreement, there was estab-
lished a neutral l>clt extending for twenty miles on each side of the division
line in wiiich belt hunting i)artie> from botii sides were permitted to chase
game, but not to molest each other.

Only one serious collision seems to have followed the establishment of
this neutral ground. This collision occurred in the eastern part of Kossuth
County, some time in the early fifties, and its story was that a small fishing
party of Sioux were there attacked by a large hcnW of Sacs and Foxes, who
had been camping at Clear Lake and wlio learned of the ])roximity of the
smaller party of the Sioux. The Sacs and Foxes made a night march to
the camp of the Sioux, attacked the camjiing party in tiie early morning.
and allowed no one to get away to tell the tale. Captain Ingiiam. father
of the editor of the Register and Leader, ran upon the scene of this mas-
sacre a few years later and found there the skeletons of the luifortunate
Sioux, those of the children being huddled and each of them chipped as
to the skull, where the tomahawk had struck. This incident occurred after
the settlement of Story County ; but the fact that only one incident of this
sort is definitely recorded, illustrates in part why there is no Indian history
of Story County.

The History of Iowa, so far as the white man is concerned, begins with
the tliscovery by Marquette when he floated down the Wisconsin River into
the Mississippi in 1673. and thence coasted the eastern shores of Iowa to
the outlet of the Des Moines. He found very little indication of inhabit-
ancy of any sort until he reached the vicinity of Fort Madison, where defi-
nite signs of Indians were discovered ; and pursuing the trail for a few-
miles from the river, he found Sacs and Foxes who received him with much
courtesy, accompanying him back to the river and speeding him on his way.
Other explorers came along, but nothing very definite happenct! to Iowa.
In ccunmon with the rest of the Mississippi \"alley west of the Mississippi
and north of the Ohio, Iowa became in a nominal sense the possession of
the French, but there was not even a respectable trade with the Indians, and
it had very little, if any, importance to the French. .\t the close of the
French and Indian war it (lassed with other portions of the French empire
in .\merica to .Spain which nation held nominal control for forty years.
The nearest Spanish post which had any element of prominence was that at
St. Louis, where the convergence within a short distance of the Mississippi.
the .Missouri, the Illinois, the Ohio, the Tennessee and tiic Cuml>erland
suggested a inid-continental metropolis when the land should be peopletl
and while the |H:ople should be dependent lar^^a-ly upon the rivers for their
transi)orlation. The one actual settlement in Iowa imder the Spanish donii-
natirm or for a considerable time afterward was at I>ubuque, where Julii'n
I)ubu(|ue. a I'Venchman, secured a grant from .Spain to operate lead mines
and cstablishcil a j>ost which existed for a numlxTr of years. In iJ'o^ Iowa

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 9

passed with the rest of the Louisiana Purchase into the possession first of
France and then immediately of the United States.

Under American authority, Iowa was successively part of the territory
of Louisiana, of the district of Louisiana, of the territory of Missouri, of
the territory of Indiana, of the Territory of Michigan, of the territory of
Wisconsin, and of the territory of Iowa. The territory of Iowa was not
the same in area as is the State of Iowa, but it e.xtended more or less in-
definitely north and west from the junction of the Des Moines with the
Mississippi and included with much other territory the present state of
Minnesota, nor did the first attempt to erect Iowa into a State correspond
to the State as it is. The first proposed State of Iowa naturally included
all of that part of the then existing territory of Iowa in which the white
man had established homes, but that was only a very small part, and the
proposed State did not extend westward to the Missouri, but did extend
northward so as to include quite a piece of what is now southeastern Minne-
sota. It was because this territorial arrangement was not satisfactory to
the people of the embryo state that the first constitution framed under the
authority of Congress for the State of Iowa was rejected by the people of
Iowa, and on account of this rejection a fresh start had to be made for
the erection of a State, and in accordance with the subsequent proceedings
the State of Iowa assumed its present geographical proportions.

Iowa was first opened legally to settlement as one of the results of the
Blackhawk war of 1832. Prior to this war the Sacs and Foxes, of whom
Blackhawk was the principal chief, had the right of exclusive occupancy
in all of Iowa that had yet interested the white man as well as the north-
western part of Illinois. The war arose over the invasions by white squat-
ters of the Indian territory in Illinois, but when the war was over the In-
dians gave up all their claims in Illinois and also to that portion of Iowa
which is known as the Blackhawk purchase and which included the eastern
part of the State, south of the line of division heretofore mentioned be-
tween the lands of the Sacs and Foxes and of the Sioux. Following these
cessions white settlers really began moving into the State in 1833. Iowa
then being a portion of Michigan territon,'. By 1836 there were enough
people on or near the Mississippi to make it worth while to set them up as
a territory under the name of Wisconsin, from which name, however, it is
not to be inferred that Iowa was an incident to Wisconsin, for the fact is
that Iowa was of more account than Wisconsin and the Wisconsin legis-
lature sat at Burlington. A further division was soon desirable with in-
creasing settlement and the name Wisconsin was more suited for that part
of the territory which included the Wisconsin River; so, in the separation
the eastern territory retained the common name while the western portion
took the name of "Iowa" and thus became a separate territory in 1838.

The territory of Iowa had three governors and seven legislative as-
semblies. The first governor was Robert Lucas, who was appointed in
1838 by President Van Buren and who continued a resident of the State

10 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

after his retirement from office. John Cliambers was the second governor.
He was appointed by President Harri.son and had been a \\ hig congress-
man from Kentucky. He served four years as governor and when he was
superseded by a Democrat he returned to Kentucky and had no further
identification with the territory or State. Tlie third and last territorial
governor was James Qark, who came in with the Polk administration in
1845 and retired a little over a year later when the territory became a
State. The period of territory was one of continued growth and advancing
settlement, but as before noted, neither the growth nor the settlement is
known to have touched Story County. There was plenty of room in the
eastern portion of the territory for all of the people who had yet found
their way across the Mississippi, and it was not even until near the end of
this i>eriod that so much as a military post was established in the most
strategic situation in central Iowa at the confluence of the Coon and the
Des Moines.

Among the people of Iowa the story of this time is of difficulties and
trials in the acquirement of land and of the general privations of pioneer
life. Seemingly about all the money that came into the country in the form
of real cash had to go to the government land office for lands. The people
provided themselves with their own supplies so far as they possibly could,
and their purchases were small and primitive; their markets for their prod-
ucts were remote and difficult to reach, but in a general sense they were
able to live off the country and to extend a welcome to the people who
came on from farther east and occupied the farm next to the west. In
this tide of migration there were necessarily numerous rougli characters
and in some localities such characters I>ecame sufficientiv numerous to cause
serious trouble for peaceable citizens. Probably in Jack>-on Countv this
trouble became most acute and in the ultimate it was there dealt with ac-
cording to the rough and ready and rjuite effective methods of pioneer
justice ; but with all its eddies the advance of the human tide was steady,
and by the end of the territorial days its farthest edge was not so very
remote from Story County.

To this county the one really important contril)ution from the territorial
regime is the name. The most important business of the successive legis-
lative assemblies, as that business now leaves its tracing upon the State,
was in the setting off and naming of the counties. There was a lot of this
work to be done. There had, of course, been some counties established in
the days of the Michigan and Wisconsin territories, but the area.s com-
prised by such counties were much larger than would suit the convenience
for corresponding divisions of a .settled coimtry. In beginning, Des Moines
Coimty covered the south half of the .State and nuburiue the north half.
From these counties [lorlions were cut off from time to time, everv leg-
islative assembly contributing to this work of partition, Naturallv the
eastern counties were the first to assume definite shape and get names that
they could keep, and as the recognizetl names were thus appropriated for

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 11

the smaller but settled portions of the earlier and larger counties, new
names had to be devised for the divisions that were left. In the choice of
these names a permanent monument has been left of the political senti-
ments dominating among the early pioneers. Successive legislative as-
semblies were every one of them Democratic, and furthermore, the men
composing them particularly on the majority side had come very largely
from Indiana and Kentucky. The consequence was that heroes of the
Democratic party in general and of the Democratic party of Indiana and
Kentucky and adjacent states in particular have their names engraved
permanently on the map of Iowa. Not less than forty-five of the ninety-
nine counties of the State are named for Democratic politicians. Even in
some cases where an inquirer might be led to think that a particular name
was an exception to the rule, closer investigation might show that he was
mistaken. For instance, Hamilton County was not named for the first
secretar>- of the treasury and the founder of the protective system, but for
a Democratic State senator from Dubuque. Sometimes, however, there
were real concessions as, for instance, when the County of Slaughter, named
for some now forgotten Democratic light, was renamed for the father of
his country ; but when one takes into consideration the fact that there were
numerous Indian names to choose from, battles of the Mexican war to be
commemorated, a few ladies to be complimented, as Ida and Louisa, popu-
lar foreigners to be flattered, as Kossuth, Revolutionary heroes to be rec-
ognized, as Marion and Jasper, there was not a great deal left for the
statesmen of the order Federalist or Whig. All of this being true, it is
hardly possible to guess by what strange happening it came about that six-
teen congressional townships, at the time totally unoccupied, but destined
ultimately to be most strongly anti-Democratic of any sixteen townships
in a bunch in Iowa, should have been given the name of a great judicial
expositor of liberal construction of federal authority. But somehow so it
came about and the last legislative assembly of Iowa, on the 13th of Jan-
uary, 1846, set apart a portion of the then County of Benton, to-wit :
Townships 82, 83, 84 and 85 of Ranges 21, 22, 23 and 24, west of the fifth
P. M., Iowa, to be the County of Story. Four days later the new county
was attached to Benton County for election, revenue and judicial purposes,
the unsettled territory set ofif therefore being treated as appurtenant to
rather than a part of the settled County of Benton. This arrangement, how-
ever, did not stand at all ; for later, on the same day. Story was attached
to Polk County for the same purposes. This relationship of Story to Polk
County continued until some time after settlements in the county had begim
and to some extent grown, whereupon on the 22d day of January, 1853,
Story County was again changed in its attachments, being this time at-
tached to Boone County. In this relationship it continued for the few
months until Story County actually set up in business for itself.

Thus do we come to the point at which the history of Story County
properly begins ; but before we actually do begin, it is fitting to pause and'

12 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

pay a brief tribute to tbe great jurist wbose name it is an honor to this
county to bear and bear alone amid all the counties in the Union.

JUSTICE JOSEPH STORY.

Joseph Story, jurist, for whom this county was named and famous as
the great associate of Chief Justice Marshall for more than twenty years
in the supreme court of the United States, was born in Marblehead, Massa-
chusetts. September i8. 1779. and died in Cambridge, Massachusetts,
Sei^tember 10. 1845. His father. Dr. Elisha Story, was one of the "Boston
Tea Party" and subsequently a surgeon in the Revolutionary army.
In youth the son manifested unusual powers of observation and an intense
craving for knowledge. In 1798 he was graduated from Harvard, deliver-
ing the poem at the commencement exercises, and took up the study of law
under Samuel Sevvall and Samuel Putnam. In 1801 he began practice in
Salem, and in 1805 prepared and published "A Selection of Pleadings in
Civil .Actions." He published also, in 1804. "The Power of Solitude, with
Fugitive Poems," a literary venture which he afterward deeply regretted.
Becoming interested in feudalism, he made a profound study of the old
black letter law of England and soon took rank among the leaders of the
New England bar. In 1805 he was elected a representative of Salem in
the legislature where he soon became the acknowledged leader of the re-
publican part). In 1808 he defended the embargo in opposition to Chris-
topher Gore, then at the zenith of his fame. In the same year he was
elected to contjress where, in oj^position to the administration, he labored
to repeal the embargo on the ground that it was expetlient only as a temixv
rary measure. President Jefferson attributed the repeal of that measure
to Mr. Story whom he styled "a psueclo republican." On his return home
he was reelected to the Massachusetts iiouse of representatives, and in 181 1
became its s])eaker. In November of that year, at the age of tliirty-two,
he was ai)j)ionte(! by President Madison an associated justice of the su-
preme court of the United States. His circuit embraced four states: Maine.
New Hampshire. Massachusetts and Rhode Island. He was largely the
creator of the laws pertaining to the admiraltv salvage, marine insurance
anfl patents, the laws on these subjects having been |X)orly dehncd prior to
his time. He also with Chancellor Kent founded the .American system of
equity in jurisprudence. In 1819 he denounced the slave trade still car-
ried on in the New England ports and in the same year gave his famous
decision in the Dartmoutli College case.

In 1899 when Nathan Dane founded a professorship of law at Harvard
Justice Story was elected to till it and removed to Cambridge, where he
resided the rest of his life. During his professional life he received a
salary of one thousand dollars per year. As a teacher of law he has had
few equals. The numl)er of students rose froin one to one hundred and
fifty-six during his occupancy of the chair. In 18,^1 Judge Storv was

STORY COrXTY COURT HOUSE. XEVADA

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 13

offered the chief justiceship of Massachusetts but he dechned. After the
death of Chief Justice Marshall, being the senior member by appointment,
he presided over the deliberations of his associates until the confirmation
of Chief Justice Taney, and during the illness of the latter, in 1844, he
again filled the place for a few months. He had nearly completed his ar-
rangements for retiring from the bench and devoting his energies ex-
clusively to the law school when he was stricken with a fatal illness. In
j8i8 he was elected an overseer of Harvard which, in 1821, conferred upon
him the degree of LL. D., as did also Brown in 1815, and Dartmouth in
1824. For many years he was president of the Merchants Bank in Salem'
and in 1842 was active in establishing the Alumni Association of Harvard
of which he became vice president.

Judge Story gave to the world more text-books on jurisprudence than
any other writer of his time. The list comprises his "Commentaries on the
Law of Bailments," in 1832; "Commentaries on the Constitution of the
United States," in 1833; "Commentaries on the Conflict of Laws," in
1834; "Commentaries on Equity Jurisprudence," in 1835-6; "Equity Plead-
ings," in 1838; "Law of Agency," in 1839; "Law of Partnership," in 1841 ;
•'Law of Bills of Exchange," in 1843; and "Law of Promissory Notes,"
in 1845. H^ ^Iso edited "Chitty on Bills of Exchange and Promissory
Notes," in 1809; "Abbott on Shipping," in 1810; and "Laws on Assumpsit,
with Notes of American Statutes and Cases," in 181 1. All of these works
have passed through many editions and are recognized not only in America
but by British judges and on the continent where they have been trans-
lated into French and German. His decisions as a circuit court judge are
contained in thirteen volumes ; the reports of the supreme court during his
judicial life fill thirty-five volumes, of which his judicial opinions form a
large part ; the notes he contributed to Wheaton's reports fill one hundred
and eighty-four closely printed pages ; and besides all these legal papers, he
delivered many discourses on literary and other themes, wrote many bio-
graphical sketches of his contemporaries, contributed elaborate papers to
the North American Review, wrote one hundred and twenty pages for
Dr. Lieber's "Encyclopedia Americana," and drafted some of the most im-
portant acts of congress. His name in Class J, Judges and Lawyers, re-
ceived sixty-four votes in the consideration of names for a place in the
Hall of Fame, New York University, October, 1900, and was accorded a
place with those of James Kent and John Marshall. A statue of Judge
Story was modeled by his son and stands in the chapel of Mount Vernon
cemetery. He was a member of the Massachusetts Historical Society, a
fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a member of
the American Philosophical Society.

About 1805 Judge Story married a daughter of Rev. Thomas Fitch
Oliver, rector of St. Michael's church. The late William Wetmore Story,
eminent sculptor and author, was his son, and Julian Story, the famous
artist, is a grandson.

CHAPTER II.

A GENERAL VIEW.

The liistor)' of the county will be fouml, as we proceed, to divide
itself naturally into various themes, of which the first, of course, will
relate to the earliest settlements. Following this up, there will be that of
the organization and the early development of the county, including the
earlier efforts to secure railroad transportation with the outer world, and
from this period of the county the story runs inevitably into the subject
of the Civil War. E.xcepting for the fact that near the end of the war,
the railroad actually reached the county, this period was one of tremendous
effort, but probably of not very great local progress ; still, even the war
itself could not stop altogether the westward tide of migration, and dur-
ing even war years the county continued moderately to grow. This part
of the history will be found, however, to relate much more to the doings
of the soldiers who went out from the county and in the south rendered
the service which the need of the nation required, than it will to the
events at home. Following the war, the county received a greatly ac-
celerated tide of migration, and its vacant prairies were much more rapidly
occupied than had previously been the case. Rivalries between the dif-
ferent towns and different portions of the county, which had previously
been scarcely observable, sprang into existence and for a time appeared
to consume the most of the public efforts of the people. The beginning
of the most important of these rivalries, so far as we are able to observe,
was in the location of the Des Moines & Minnesota Railroad. This was
the cross-line which was to be built from Dcs Moines to some point on
the line of the North-Western Railway, and the question arose w^hether
such point should be Nevada, which was the county seat and the oldest
town and the most important in the county, or Ames, then a very new
town, but already developing considerable aspirations. The ultimate suc-
cess of Ames in this controversy was undoubtedly due to the long stand-
ing difficulty of making for anything an easy crossing of Skunk river ;
but such success, added to the fact that the .\gricultural College, which
had been located about ten years before, was now being opened, encouraged
the [)eople there to set up claims for the county seat. These county seat

14

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 15

claims were finally negatived, and the people of the county, by a small
majority, voted to build in Nevada a new court house ; but before this
conclusion was reached and the court house built, an alignment had been
effected which had much to do with the affairs of the county for a long
time. Another division which arose about the same time was also geo-
graphical in its origin, althov.gh the reason may now seem trival ; but the
effect was undoubtedly important and unfortunate. This was the division
over the Nevada Slough, and about this matter much of the political
history of the county and not a little of its business afifairs, for some years,
revolved. The time was before Ames undertook to set up in business for
itself, and the basic fact was that Nevada had two business centers, and
between them was the slough. Men who were interested joined their
political and business efforts to establish the supremacy of the side of town
in which they did business ; and the men concerned being themselves of
much the widest iniluence in the county, the controversy between them
extended widely.

Somehow as one looks back over the general history of the county for
the first twenty years of its existence, the few facts that seem to stand out
as dominant above any others in the effects upon the future of the county
are the impassibility of Skunk river, the location of the Agricultural Col-
lege, the political conversion of the county in 1859, the coming of the first
railroads, the influx of the Norwegians, the row over the Nevada slough
and the aspiration of Arues to become the county seat. These matters of
course worked variously for the good or ill of the county, but whether the
effect was good or otherwise, the impress was lasting. The first matter
in which the people of the county endeavored to get together and exert their
common influence to a single end, excepting of course that from the be-
ginning they all wanted a railroad, was in the matter of the location of the
Agricultural College. How this location came about it is difficult now to
understand; but the fact is, that the county as a whole voted $10,000 for
the college, and the people of the county gave enough more in the way of
land and money to raise the local donation to $21,000, which was more than
double the initial appropriation of $10,000 made by the state. In doing this,
the people of the county outbid the people of any other county, and it was
because they did so outbid the other counties that they secured for this
county the location of the college. This was a start for Story County which
might well have had lasting effects other than those naturally pertaining to
the college itself, but before the college could be actually established, the
war came on and of course this stopped nearly all enterprises excepting
the war itself. When the war was over and the time was at hand for new
improvements and new enterprises, there came on that row about the
slough ; and to one who came into the county as a youth some years later
and has since remained and who in subsequent years was intimately asso-
ciated with most of the men who had been parties to the slough controversy,
it became painfully evident that however cordial these men might be to the

16 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

newcomer or to one younger tlian themselves, yet among themselves the
old grudge stood and never, so far as our observation went, did anyone who
was on one side of that controversy willingly and heartily give assistance
in any important matter to anyone who had been too active on tlie other
side. The issue of the slough itself was settled, and the town moved to the
north side, but the settling of the issue had no effect upon the quarrel per-
taining to the issue, and for twenty years, or until the men concerned were
for the most part dead or moved away, the effects of that quarrel were a
standing hinderance to tlie advancement of any Story- County man's ambi-
tion or of a local enterprise that demanded general cooperation.

The Court House struggle with Ames, though quite as sharp while it
lasted, was probably not so serious; yet, for many years the Republican
County Conventions, in which the f)olitical affairs of the County Were de-
termined, presented habitually a situation in which the Nevada interests,
more or less embarrassed by the remnants of the slough controversy, were
represented by one slate of candidates, and the Ames interests, embarrassed
by no considerable local division, were represented with much greater unity
and. upon the whole, were more frequently successful.

Prior to about 1875 or 1880, the County may fairly be said to have been
passing through the first stage of its development ; for all of this time there
were lands that were yet unimproved, unfenced and unfarmed, and in-
deed it was not until about the middle eighties that the Northeastern por-
tion of the County could be said to be generally divided into farms; but,
of course, the matter of the second stage of development did not await
wholly upon the first, and it was along about the middle seventies that the
towns of the County began to replace the earlier wooden business build-
ings with structures more substantial, and the jjeople of the Coimty began
to feel sufficiently ])rosperous to vote money for a better class of public
buildings.

It was about this time that the writer of this liislory began to have his
personal acquaintance with the situation now in hand. It was in the fall of
1874 that the people of the County voted to supplant a cheap and very in-
adequate wooden Court House with a brick structure, very much larger,
very much more costly, and probably at the time it was built — the best to be
found in almost any county seat town in central or western or northern
Iowa. In the following Sjiring, the people of Nevada made a similar ap-
propriation for a large fine new school house to supplant the old and in-
adequate one. .\t about the same time, the .\gricultural College on the
West side, whicli had been established a few years l)efore with abundant
advertising but with a small body of students, began to be of increasing
interest and importance. So. in many ways, the Coimty was beginning to
take on a new growth and to manifest the results of the earlier thrift and
industry. In the recording of events and developments, succeeding the time
here indicated, the author is going to be able to speak from matters to a
great extent within his knowledge: Inii in the matter of a work of this

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 17

character, it is to the earlier events, the beginnings of things, the whys and
wherefores of the conditions which we all understand, that the larger meas-
ure of interest pertains ; and in treating of these matters of earlier and, in
fact of greater interest, we must depend upon the records that have been
left and upon tiie assistance of members of the older generation who have
lent in one way or another their kindly cooperation to the work. As the
work proceeds, the extent of this obligation will become more and more ap-
palling; but in the beginning, it may be said, that were it not for a few
favorable conditions we would not know how to proceed. First of these
conditions relates to the files of the Story County Advocate and ^^gis,
which files are by no means as perfect as we wish they were, but in which
the earlier history of the County is very effectively covered and reviewed.
The Advocate was established in 1857, very early in the year, and the first
paper which appears in the files bears the Number 4, and is dated January
29th. The paper was published by R. R. Thrall, and the more we have
reviewed it and studied it, the more have we admired the patience and fair-
ness and manifests justice with which Mr. Thrall, as the sole editor in the
County, made his record of current events. Mr. Thrall left an excellent file
for about three years, but early in the sixties, the file becomes very incom-
plete, and during the subsequent administration of the paper by Geo.
Schoonover, who re-named the paper, "The Reveille," and by common re-
pute ran a paper of exceedingly vigorous quality and exceedingly satisfac-
tory type to the loyal sentiment of the community in war time, there is very
little record at our command. If. as the matter develops, it becomes ap-
parent that the earlier period of the war is not so well covered in this His-
tory as the later period of the war, the circumstance of these missing files
must- be the explanation ; but about the time of the Battle of Chattanooga,
the paper passed to the control of John M. Brainard. From this time on,
the files are excellent, and they show that Mr. Brainard kept a record such
as the Historian of any County is fortunate in being able to refer to. It is
to the files of Mr. Thrall's paper, and to the records, and to the reminis-
cences of the older settlers that we must refer for the most of our story of
the period of the settlement of the County. The actual service of the soldiers
in the Field, we are able to get, most fortunately, from survivors of several
of the commands with which Story County was most closely identified:
Co. E. of the 3d Infantry; Co. B. of the 2d Cavalry ; Company A. of the 23d
Infantry, and Company K. of the 32d Infantry were all raised for the most
part in this County ; and if it shall seem that the Story County Soldiers, who
servefl in these commands, have their record more completely set down
here than is the case with soldiers from the County in other commands, tlie
reason must be given and accepted that it is much easier to get the Story
where there are survivors, than to get it where the survivors, if there are
such, are scattered and out of reach.

Along with the files already spoken of, and the records furnished by
surviving soldiers, and the reminiscences of various pioneers, it should be

18 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

emphatically set down, that any History of Story County would be much
less complete than it now is or promises to be, were it not for the records
left by Col. John Scott. Of all the men and women connected with the
County in its early day and its period of most rapid development, he was by
far the most impressed with the ultimate value to the community of having
the events of its founding set down, and he was quite alone in the measure
of effort which he was willing to make to this end. He came here in the
prime of life, a man of education, wide experience, unusual mental equip-
ment, with literary habits acquired as an editor for a few years in Eastern
Kentucky, and with the ability to get personal enjoyment for himself out of
setting down the story which should be for the entertainment of others.
The tirst file of the paper of the Advocate contains a review of the County
very possibly his work, and affording by all odds, the best statement of the
condition and attainments of the County up to the time of the jniblication.
Nearly twenty years later, on the centennial l-'ourth, July 4, 1876, he was
the orator at the county celebration at Nevada, and in accordance with an
arrangement that was state wide he delivered an oration which was pub-
lished in full, was a history of the county up to that time and is the medium
of much of our best information now concerning matters in the earlier days.
A dozen years still later, while memory was still fresh and the appearance
of things had not yet changed to so great an extent but that it was still
possible to trace out the old amid the new, he wrote for the Nevada Rep-
resentative, the modern successor of the Advocate and the Reveille and the
y'Egis, a series of reminiscences, establishing for that time and with much
definiteness the relation between the earlier and what might now be con-
sidered the middle stage of the County's progress.

Perhaps it is in the review of this comparison that we are able now to
find the best standard for measuring the still later development of the
County, and particularly of the County Seat. The mciuory of the present
editor has often to be hard drawn upon and reinforced in order to find in
all cases the relationship between things as he states them for '57 and '8 and
'88, and as they are now. From this record and comparison, it is now
obvious that Nevada has made vastly more progress in the twenty years and
more since this record was made, than it had in the thirty years and more
before which the record was made, and what is true of the County Seat, we
are satisfied is true of the County as a whole. As our observation goes, it
is true of the towns generally. Ames is altogether a different town from
what it was twenty years or so ago. Story City offers really no comi)arison,
neither does Maxwell nor Cambridge, nor Roland. Slater had then little
more than a beginning; Collins, Zearing, McCallsburg, were very new
towns ; Colo was older than some of these, but not nearly so good a town
as it is now, and the same is true of Gilbert Station. Huxley had hardly
found a place upon the map. Kelley has made considerable improvement,
and Iowa Center has survived conditions which have destroyed many an-
other town, when the railroad came close without hitting it. In all of the

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 19

larger or more aspiring towns of the County, there has been substitution of
good buildings for old ones. Fires which are almost always a disaster to
individuals, but not always so unfortunate for towns, have contributed to
the revision of the municipal landscapes and have hastened the development
such as is most pleasing to observe.

At the same time, there has been a very rapid advance in the price of
farm land, and to this advance there have been contributions from better
markets, better prices, better methods of production, better tillage and bet-
ter drainage. These causes of advancing farm land have operated together
and upon each other, with the general result that the lands yield very much
rriore in the value of their salable crops than was the case in the earlier
day, and the tillable area of the County has very largely increased. From
the time when the government lands were all taken up in the fifties, to the
time some thirty or more years later when the lands might all be said to be
occupied but not as yet improved to any great extent excepting in the way
of buildings, the rise in thie price of farm land in the County had been only
gradual, and, so far as our knowledge and understanding go, the value of
the products had not greatly outnm the reasonable profit on the value of
the land and upon the labor necessary to produce them; but about 1890,
there came a material change in the situation. A tide of migration to
South Dakota was turned backward by drouth and grasshoppers; while
at the same time, farmers in Eastern Illinois found that they could sell
out at home and buy here at a very considerable profit, getting for the
same money considerable more land of similar productiveness. These
two factors operating at the same time, one from the West and the other
from the east, gave a fresh start to Story County farms. Still it was not
until the Dakotas were settled, so far as they are arable, and Oklahoma
real estate pretty well taken up, and the land speculator driven to Texas
or Canada for the subject of speculation, that the Story County farmer
really began to come into his own. Prior to this time, the idea had been
working into the County, that it was more profitable to drain ponds than to
plow around them, but it was not until along toward the latter nineties that
the idea became prevalent that, where practicable, it was cheaper and
better to drain lands already in possession and fit them for satisfactory
tillage, than to buy more lands and manage them in the way in which cheap
lands are wont to be managed. The consequence of this idea coming into
vogue and of the continuing increase in the general profit of farming,
there was gradually inaugurated a system of farm drainage which is as yet
by no means complete but which has had a tremendous efTect upon the
general condition and prospects of the County.

Indeed this subject of farm drainage is one of the most important
with which the people of Story County have had occasion to deal or have
undertaken to deal. The necessity for it goes back to the very condi-
tion of things obtaining in the County when the white man came here.
The County is flat or has very considerable flat areas in which are

20 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

numerous shallow basins, where the water inevitably and naturally gath-
ers. The reason for this state of affairs has to be learned from the geolo-
gist, who delves into the history of the world many ages before man dwelt
here. According to these authorities, there were times, long eons ajiart,
when for causes not well understood, great floods of ice, wide in extent
and of inilelinite but very great depth, slid from the North down over the
prairies of the upper Mississippi \'alley. grinding off the surface, and when
they melted and receded, left where they had been vast quajitities of
debris. The general effect of such passage of fields of ice or glaciers
over the country was to plane off the irregularities in the surface of the
ground, and leave the ground substantially flat, save for the deposits of
rough gravel and rock that were left when the ice melted and the ice cap
receded. Naturally, however, when the ice melted and the vast quantities
of water produced by the melting run away, the surface of the country
over which the water should run and upon which the rains and floods of
subsequent periods might fall, would be very materially worn and chan-
neled and. as the geologists say. eroded. If another glacier came down,
but did not actually go over the given piece of territory, there would be
the effects of eroism without the effects of smoothing. As a matter of
fact, as the geologists tell us. this process was several times repeated in
Iowa, nearly all the state being covered by glaciers twice, and a great part
of the North half of the state on two other occasions. The natural condi-
tion was that the North half of the State got the larger amount of planing
off and the South half the larger amount of washings out; so it comes
about that the South half of Iowa is a very much rougher country than is
the North half and has very few' places where water is likely to stand,
but the north half of the State, and particularly that portion of the North
central part of the State lying west and North from Story County,
had more of the planing and less of the washiuij than any other part of the
State. This is a fact pertaining to which there is scicntilic agreement, and,
because of this fact, we have in Story County, and to the North and West
of it, an expanse of country where the streams are shallow, the bottoms
wide and the natural drainage of the country very imjierfect. Such a
condition of the country implies nothing in the way of derogation when
the land is once projierly improved. Upon the contrary, the broad and
level fields across which the i)low can be driven for half a mile or more
without turn, are the ones which can be tilled with the greatest economy.
and from which the finest crops can be raised, but before this agricultural
perfection can he achicve<l. the work of nature must be supplemented bv
the work of man, and the channels for drainage which nature has neglected
to furnish must be artificially supplied. To meet this necessity, there must
be expended much of labor and of money, and it is only as men can see
the prospective profits from such expenditure that tlicv will go to the
necessary trouble and expense.

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 21

So the condition of which we have been speaking operated in two
ways. In the beginning, it retarded the settlement and growth of the
County. Marshall County to the East was broken up and drained by the
Iowa River and Boone to the West similarly broken up and drained by the
Des Moines, but the Skunk was not a big enough River to furnish similar
drainage to Story County; and so the Pioneer, like the Indian before him,
found in Story County conditions with which, relying upon limited and
primitive resources, it was difficult satisfactorily to cope. Of course, the
Pioneer did come. He picked the pieces of land that were the better
drained. When these were gone, he picked others not so well drained, but
nevertheless picked them because they were cheap, and because the general
tide of migration had passed on beyond, following generally the uplands,
and had left him here something which, though not so valuable at the lime,
was yet within his means to secure ; but as years passed by and as
markets and conditions changed, the very circumstance which had made
Story County, in the beginning, unattractive as compared with other coun-
ties in similar general situation, has tended to make the County about the
best there is. The construction of drainage in the form of County ditches
by the community and of local drainage through tile laid by the farmer,
are matters of trouble and expense, but troubles and expense which, once
surmounted and met, yield to the farmer wide areas of rich, profitable,
arable land. It has taken Story County sixty years to win its just place
among the agricultural counties of Iowa, but in the sixty years from having
a reputation of a flat, swampy and undesirable County, it has gained the
reputation of a well drained and very desirable county. .-Ml the labor and
expense that have been necessary to attain the end have been well invested,
but the investment has been slow ; and the fact that the investment was
necessary has had a great bearing on the history of the County.

CHAPTER III.

GKXKKAI. \ 11£\\— (COXTIXLEDj.

Whether this fact, that in Story County it was necessary for tlie pioneer
to look a httle farther ahead for his results than it was necessary for him
to look in many other counties, had anything to do with getting for this
County an exceptionally far-sighted and substantial class of citizenship, it
might be difficult to say, but undoubtedly Story County did get early, and
has steadily added to, a splendid body of citizenship. The first settlers are
understood to have come on largely from Indiana, and coming as they did
from a wooded country, and being also under the necessity of looking out
for the question of fuel, they kept in the first instance pretty close to the
streams, but they came here with the best intentions and the substantial pur-
{X)se to build up the country. .Among them, of course, there was an element
of undesirables; but the woods and groves of Story County were not suffi-
ciently e.xtensive or numerous to offer to very many of that particular class
the sort of surroundings which they have been found generally to prefer;
and somehow the flotsam and jetsam of the frontier never reached Ston,-
County in any considerable numbers. For the earliest tide of migration, as
before noted, had been up along the Rivers east and west of Story and not
across the County ; so the people who came here were peoi)le looking for a
place, not for the moment but to establish their homes; and as one goes
over the names of the pioneers, it is a matter of surprise to find how many
there were who came perhaps from a considerable distance, locating here
for reasons, at this distance, not easy to analyze, but who. having located
here, seem to have had no thought of ever moving out. Perhaps of the
original settlers, there are not very many now to be found here, but there
are a numl)er; while there arc many more who are gone, not because they
wanted to move further west, but because, in the course of time, it has
fallen to them to pay the last debt of nature, or else because, having ac-
cumulated in Story County the fortune which it was their aspiration here to
accumulate, they have gone on to some clime, supposed to be more favored
with smishine all the year round, to spend the income of their Iowa
accumulation.

Abundant examples of this truth come readily to mind. The first .As-
sessor of Story County still lives at .Ames, and has been counseled with on

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 23

the subject of this History. The founder of Nevada, T. E. Alderman, died
here but a few years ago. Men who participated in the election to organize
the County in 1853, including (VV. K. Wood of Iowa Center, L S. French of
Colo, and perhaps others, still live in the County. The Mother of the second
child born in Nevada, Mrs. Hannah Kellogg and her daughter, Mrs. Dyer,
both live here yet. It is a little more than a dozen years since old Judge
Evans, the hrst County Judge of the County, passed away at Ames. The
Ballards and others who settled early in the Northwest part of the County,
are still living about here. Old Mr. Utterback has passed to his reward, as
have Wm. Arrasmith and others, but members of their families are still
here about. H. C. iWickham was one of the original settlers near Illinois
Grove, and lives on the same old farm which he entered and on which he
reared his large family. Handsaker and Hyden have not long gone. The
Hague family is still well known. The Carrs and Kirkmans and Parkers
are yet represented in the County which they helped to found in its early
days. There was a permanency about much of the settlement that is signifi-
cant of the substantial worth of the people who first came here, and of the
general fixity of their purpose.

Not in the earliest years but in the first decade, there was a movement
here that perhaps has counted more than any other one similar movement
upon the character of the county and its population. This movement relates
to the coming of the Norwegians. Theirs was in the beginning not a strag-
gling movement, nor one in which a number of individuals of family re-
lationship or previous personal association joined their efforts, but it was a
matter of deliberate colonization. An emigration from Norway to Illinois
had been started a few years before and considerable numbers of Nor-
wegians had located in Northern Illinois, but they were looking for lands at
near the government price, and their numbers had became such as to make
practicable a concerted effort at colonization, and they sent a committee out
into Iowa to see what they could find. This committee looked over the
Country, just how much of it, we are unable to say ; but after looking
around quite thoroughly and enough to satisfy them of the soundness of
their judgment, they picked out a tract in what is now Howard Township
and there founded the village of Roland and to that locality removed their
Illinois settlement. Not long after, a similar, but perhaps more individual
movement, was made by Norwegians from Illinois and Wisconsin and Nor-
Afay into Palestine Township, and from these two settlements have spread
the Norwegian colonies in the County. Growth of these colonies has been
steady and great. It was not long, of course, before the newcomers came
directly from Norway for the most part, rather than by stages through Illi-
nois and Wisconsin, but, however they came, they occupied the country,
improved it and developed interests of notable prosperity which have
entered conspicuously into all the affairs and developments of the County.

In measuring the development of a County like Story, a record of the
census reveals very imperfectly the real status and progress of the County.

24 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

It tells the numbers but not the sorts. It indicates nothing of the institu-
tions of the State or public aflairs or the real life of the people; yet their
successive census reports do show from time to time how rapidly a com-
munity is increasing, and one is permitted to guess that the material devel-
opment is somewhat parallel to the growth in numbers. At any rate, the
census reports should be here set down. In the early days of the State, it
was the rule to take a census in nearly or quite every year ; while, of course,
the Federal census was taken every decennial year. The first record of
population in Story County ought to have been made in 1849 or 1850; but,
in fact, there is no record to be found of any census for these years, and
the undoubted fact was, that such settlanent as existed in Story in these
years, was so very small and scattering, that the Census Taker from another
County, to which Story County might, for convenience, have been attached,
found little encouragement to hunt for the few scattered settlers in this
County. So Story County does not appear even in the Federal Census of
1850 as having as yet any permanent population. The original and con-
tinuous census record begins with the State Census of 1852, and from that
time forward the several enumerations are here set down, those for the de-
cennial years being totals of the Federal census for such years, and those
for other years being the total of the State Census taken in the years in-
dicated. The several totals are as follows :

1852 214 1870 11.651

1854 822 1873 11.519

1856 2.868 1875 13,311

1859 3,826 1880 16.906

>86o 4,051 1885 17,527

1863 4,368 1890 18,127

1865 5,918 1900 23,159

1867 6,888 1905 23,660

1869 9,347 1910 24.083

Some further suggestion of the beginnings and development of Story
County and of Central Iowa is afforded by ma])s, which have been published
from time to lime and which have come variously to later attention. One
such map was published in 1841, at whicli linic tlie territory of Iowa ex-
tende<l from Missouri to the l'>ritish Dominions, and this shows that there
were then i)Ut 18 organized Comities in the territory. In this maj), Wapello
in the Ndrth-Western corner of \'an llureii County, was the furthermost
County in Iowa toward the setting sun, near where is now the City of Ot-
tuma and were the Indian villages .Appanoose, Wapello and Keokuk. Linn
was then the farthest recognized County West in the Latitude of Story.

Anotlier maii published in 1850 shows that there were then 39 organized
Counties in the State: half of the State was then a wilderness inhabited
by the Winncl)ago, Sacs and Foxes and Sioux or Decotah Indians. West
of Winneshiek and Winnebago and Fayette Counties and extending in a

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 25

Southwesterly direction, was the neutral ground heretofore mentioned, as
dividing the country of the Sioux from that of tlie Sacs and Foxes. West
of Boone and Dallas is the Sac and Fox Country ; West of Madison and
clear as far as the Missouri, was the land of the Pottawattomies. A few
people then inhabited the Southern tier of Counties West of Davis, but the
town farthest west was Garden Grove in Decatur County. There was then
no town noted in Blackhawk County, and the town farthest west in the
central belt of Counties was Vinton, while Cedar Rapids and Marshalltown
had not yet sufficiently developed to be noted on the map.

A third map of a similar period was published in 1851. The government
survey then extended as far North- West as Ft. Dodge and as far Southwest
as Corning, but correction lines only had been carried West to tlie Mis-
souri. The principal towns of the Southeast and the eastern border had
been located, but the frontier points as yet recognized were Independence,
Vinton, Alarengo, Xewton, Adel, Winterset, Council Bluiifs, and somehow
Boonsborough had found a place by the name of Booneville, and Timber
Creek had made its appearance in Marshall County, these being the only
towns west of Vinton. Anotlier mark of the white man farther west, how-
ever, was "Floyd's grave" on the east side of the Missouri where Sioux
City now is, which mark was commemorative of the Sergeant of the Lewis
and Clark expedition, who died and was buried there. Even in both of these
two later maps, all there was of Story was the square upon the area of the
State. While, of course, the map first mentioned antedated even the naming
of the County.

In trying to comprehend the period of the early settlement of the County,
as well as the still earlier period in which settlement was delayed, it is im-
possible to attach too great importance to the influence of Skunk River and
of the early slough. These matters have both been before referred to but
not at all in proportion to their significance. It has been noted that the tim-
bered and more broken country along the Iowa and Des Moines Rivers was
more attractive to the early settler and to the aborigine before him than
was a comparatively open and imperfectly drained area such as that of Story
County. It has also been noted that Skunk River had not cut its valley so
deeply as had these other rivers, with the effect that its bottom lands were
proportionately wider and much more boggy, but such evidence only suggests
the truth as it has been made plain in almost every review that one is able
to find of pioneer conditions in this part of the country.

There is no doubt about it that Skunk bottom was something awful, and
pioneer tales are replete with illustrations of the difficulties of crossing it.
Of course, after a time some crossings were definitely established, but they
were far apart and difficult to reach, and were also subject to frequent inter-
ruptions from the rise of the River. In Story County, the only convenient
crossing, or at least, the one farthest down, was in the vicinity, as it is now
known, of Hennum's mill. North of Ames, in Franklin Township. In
this vicinity, there was a practicable ford, and crossing this ford, some of

26 HISTORY OF STORY COUXTY

the earliest settlers made their way, not westward, as might be naturally
assumed from the time and general circumstances, but eastward from Boone
County to which locality they had made their way over a more practicable
route of travel than was afforded across Story County. South of this point,
the bottom widened rapidly and continued in a more or less bogg>' condition,
principally more, practically to the junction with the Mississippi. As the
Country developed in the Southeastern part of the State, of course, roads
and bridges were constructed across this River and its bottom, but it was
some time after the considerable settlement of Story County before an
artificial crossing that was at all to be relied upon was made in this County.
The first such crossing was made near Cambridge, but it was not till 1866
that the claim was put forward for this crossing that it was permanent.
This matter is so important that it deserves some further elaboration.
As late as November, 1866. we find Skunk bottom referred to in the Nevada
paper, as this "Slough of Despond," with a statement that it is in a fair way
to be dried up. A subscription had been circulated among the people of
Nevada and Cambridge and other interested localities, which subscription,
added to the County Appropriation of $400, made more than a year before
but apparently yet unused, was regarded as sufficient for the building of a
cause-wav across the lowlands, so as to make the road to Des Moines by this
route again passable. The ne.xt summer, in connection with a notice of re-
turning delegates from the Republican State Convention at Des Moines,
it is noted that these gentlemen had a "glorious time on the broad avenue of
the Skunk. The crossing is about a mile wide at Cambridge, and at this
season is generally covered with from two to four feet of water, underlaid
with an unfathomable depth of mud. Delegates, candidates, and all men
of whatever dignity or profession who would fain cross Skunk, must strip
to the buff and wade. We were not there to see, but can easily imagine the
graceful picture of primitive purity presented by the noble aspect of this
group of editors, senators and the lieutenant Governor at their head, man-
fully buffetting the raging waters of the classic Skunk," to which descrip-
tion is added the facetious suggestion that there was a dry crossing a little
further up on the railroad bridge at Ames.

In this connection it should be borne definitely in mind that at the time
here referred to. this Skunk crossing at Cambridge was on the main traveled
route from the North-eastern quarter of the State to the State Capital.
The politicians and dignitaries who were made the subject of the above
satire were making this crossing because Nevada was the point at which
travelers by rail from the northeastern part of the State left or took the
cars on their way to or from Des Moines ; and remembering this, it is worth
while to note another experience of alunit the same lime. The Chronicler
on this occasion was some Reporter of the Des Moines Register, who re-
ports as follows: "The announcement is regretfully made that Senator
Richards, while locomoting through Skunk bottom on his way home, got
tangled in some matted grass, fell forward toward the soil and suffered from

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 27

an unexpected immersion. It is believed, too. certain other men found Jor-
dan a 'hard road to travel,' and planted themselves very deeply in one or
more cases. Such things will happen in this Western Country, where the
stage company, and not county corporations, is expected to make roads,
build bridges and do all the repairing which is required by the travel of the
State. With Skunk bottom out of the way, Nevada is about thirty miles
from Des Moines; with Skunk bottom in the way. Captain Cook's three
voyages around the world, and Pope's aerial flight to the moon were small
circumstances compared with a trip from the capital to Nevada."

To follow up the story a little farther, it should be noted with the
County appropriation and subscription before noted, there was actually
constructed a causeway, but the bridge to which the causeway led appears
still to have been something of a private affair; for in January, 1868, it
is recorded that the Board of Supervisors had arranged the toll fee for the
Skunk River bridge at Cambridge, which was hoped to "give greater satis-
faction than heretofore existing. In consideration of $300 from the County
Treasurer, to Mr. Billings, the operator under license, this gentleman is to
issue family passes good for one year to bona fide residents of the County
at the rate of $1.00. This ticket will allow the head of a family and all its
members free passage on presentation, across the bridge. Transient travel-
ers will pay the same toll as heretofore established."

With such demonstration of what the Skunk River crossing was, on the
main route, 15 years after the settlement of the County, one is permitted
to let his imagination run at will as to what that crossing was before there
had been any systematic attempt to make the same practicable and passable.
As a matter of fact, it manifestly was not to be attempted, excepting under
favorable conditions and at low water in the River. The effect was that the
early emigrant who was properly advised, did not attempt the crossing. If
he wanted to reach from his eastern home some point on the west side of
the river, he landed on the West Bank of the Mississippi below the mouth
of the River, and made his overland trip where there was no river to cross.
If, on the contrary, he was on the eastern side of the River and desired to
reach some point on the West, he was very likely to change his mind and go
somewhere else. When the earliest settlers of the County actually did get
into the County, coming from east or west of Skunk, they stayed on their
respective sides of the River; and in fact, it was not determined until 1876,
whether the first settler on the west side or the first settler on the east side
was the earliest settler of the County, it having been years after the settle-
ment by both before either knew that the other was in the County.

But what is told in a particular sense about Skunk River was true also in
a general sense, though probably in a less degree, of the sloughs that
threaded the prairie, particularly of such counties as Story, in many di-
rections. Of course, the traveller, when he could do so, followed the divides
between the sloughs just as the emigrant to central Iowa preferably came
from Keokuk up the divide between the Skunk and the Des Moines, but the

28 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

divides would never lead far enough in one direction to enable the traveller
to keep to them uniformly, and between them, it was necessary, from time to
time, to cross the intervening slough. Hon. Chas. Aldrich, who was a
pioneer editor in this portion of Iowa, and, in his later years, founder and
curator of the Iowa Historical library, has written a tribute to "The old
Prairie Slough." which affords as good an understanding of the matter as it
is possible now for one of the later generation to get. He says ; "Among
the characteristic landmarks of old Iowa, which are now becoming obselete,
the prairie slough was conspicuous and most necessary to be reckoned with.
During the Springs and Summers of long ago, one heard about them. They
were the terror of the travelers, and the Western Stage Company was often
compelled, by the bottomless condition of the roads, to abandon their
coaches and use common lumber wagons instead. A long and strong rope
was often indispensable. It was tied to the tongiie of the vehicle, which had
had been sloughed down, and the teams were placed out on solid ground
where they could pull their very utmost. It was sometimes necessary to
pry up the wheels, and it came to be a saying that the traveller must carry
a fence rail in order to do his part of the business." In making his first
journey in 1857 from Dubuque to Webster City. Mr. Aldrich says: "We
had several times to unload our lumber wagon and carry our freight across
by hand. In the outskirts of the village of Independence, we saw a wagon,
with a much lighter load than ours, stuck in the center of a wide slough.
How the poor man and team were extracted from this forlorn place, we
never knew ; for they were too far out in the mud and water for us to at-
tempt to reach them." From many an old timer does the story come tlown
that, in starting out for any considerable journey, it was really not a proper
thing for one man and team to start alone, but, on the contrary, prudence re-
quired that two or more go and keep together in order that when one should
get mired down in one of the inevitable >loughs, the other with iiis team
would be there to help him out ; and such were the recognized difficulties
thus to be encountered and the courage and persistence necessary to over-
come them tliat the local politician who desired to set forth his strongest
claim for the consideration and gratitude of his pioneer neighbors, would
be moved to claim that he had "waded sloughs" for their interest and benefit.
Remembering tliat in these later years, the farmers of -Story County
have been spending money, almost by the millinn. fur ilic purpose of drain-
ing iiut these sloughs, and remembering too that, in the olden time, the
sloughs thus being drained had by the traveller to be crosseil. not on grades
or over bridges, but where the traveller himself could find the most hope-
ful chance of plunging through the morass, we are in perhaps the best posi-
tion that we may now be. to comprehend the universality, if not the
ilifficulties, of the prairie sloughs, in and about the early County of Story.

Fir-t Kraiiii' Dui-lliiii; in Hciwanl 'l'ii\vn~lii|i. Stmy ((puiily. l.iiilt liy
till- lli-f;laiiil> ill l^.'iT. Tins linM-r «a- tlic lii~l iiuM'tiii'^ |iliici'

uf tllf IjlltlielMTI- ill llli~ tn\VII^Ili|i

CHAPTER IV.
THE EARLY SETTLEMENT.

As has been indicated in the preliminary review, the settlement of Story
County did not, in the hrst instance, come from the tide of migration west-
ward, reaching it from the eastern side and gradually rolling across it. Upon
the contrary, the earlier settlements were made from different directions
and particularly northeast, and were in the first instance very shghtly related
to each other. The very first settlers moved from Des Moines northward
into Palestine Township, near the present village of Huxley, but they were
not immediately followed by others coming from the same locality and mov-
ing in the same direction. The ne.xt settler was one who moved northwest-
ward from Newton until he found a favorable place to build his cabin,
which he supposed he was locating in Jasper County, but afterwards found
to be in Story County ; but both of these settlements seem to have been ex-
ceptional and not to have been followed by any notable number of others
coming in the same way. The earliest tides that reached the County and
kept coming in the same way, seem to have come from Polk County, in the
neighborhood of Cory Grove, in Elkhart Township, and to have tended
toward the eastern side of Indian Creek in the locality of the present vil-
lages of Maxwell and Iowa Center, and about the same time, from the
vicinity of Swede Point or Madrid, in Boone County, to the locality of
Squaw Fork on the Western border of Story County, near the present
village of Ontario and the almost forgotten village, immediately South of it,
of New Philadelphia. This latter immigration, save for the turning east-
ward seems to have been more of the typical order of frontier settlement
than any other. The settlers in this locality seem to have crossed the Mis-
sissippi at Keokuk, followed up the divide between the Des Moines and
Skunk until they found themselves at the frontier of actual settlement, and
then branched off to the locality that to them was the most attractive.

In these years of '51 and '52, the lands of Story County were not yet
subject to entry, but about this time the lands South of the middle line of
the County were opened to entry, and the lands farther North were opened
soon afterwards. In anticipation of such opening to entry, these earlier
settlers squatted in what appeared to them to be the favorable locations ;
and later, when they were permitted to do so, they entered their lands or

29

Vol. 1—3

30 lliSiURV OF STOR\ CULXTY

had them enterccl at the CJovernnient Land Office in Des Moines. When
the time came lor the organization of the County, there arose a political
rivalry, not on party lines but between the settlement on the one hand on
and about Stjuaw I'ork and extending eastward across Skunk River to the
east side of the groves about Bloomington and tiie settlement on the other
hand along Indian Creek, extending from the Southern border of the
County .\\)rtiiwar(l to the locality, as it is now known, of Hickory Grove.
In this rivalry, the question of supremacy was very easily decided; for the
settlers on Skunk and Squaw l-"ork outvoted the settlers on Indian Creek,
and elected tlie entire slate of the lirst officers of the County. These betjin-
nings, however, having once been made, and the time having come, prob-
ably, when there were more lands open to entry in Story County than in
any other County not luore difficult of access, the county thickened rajiidly
in population, and routes of travel, or, at least, paths of communication,
were established between the before scattered settlements, all tending toward
the formation of a County according to recognized standards, with the as-
pirations, organization and differences such as are to be expected in a new
community.

I'.efore undertaking, however, to name the first of these occupants of
the land of .Story County, it is proper to note, as is done with the Norseman
in America, that there seems to have been an attempt at settlement in the
County before the first of the known settlements. Those who came first to
the Southwestern part of the County, and there were none in any other part
of the County before those who are known to have been in that part, found
standing a white man's shack on the .South side of I'allard Grove, in Union
Towushii). not far from Walnut Grove. The Ballards saw it when they
came and settled a little farther West. Who built this shack, what were his
hopes for the building of a County of which he was. in fact, the first white
inhabitant, is not known nor even guesse(I. There is a suggestion from the
locality that he may have been murdered by the Indians, but Indians were
not murdering to any notable extent in this i)art of the Country at anv time.
and the one definite fact is that he was there and did not stay.

Of the permanent settlement, the earliest is now definitely under.stood
to have been that of Dan W. and Mormon Ballard, on the east side of Pales-
tine Township, on the 8th of March. 1848. They gave their name to Bal-
lard Grove and Ballard Creek. They built them homes, occupied land, and
remained there in the locality for about 30 years. They were not the sort
of men to harmonize with the Norwegian settlement, which, in time, com-
jilctely surrounded them, and ultimately they sold out and went farther
^\'est. .As has been before noted, they were not directly followed bv any
number of other settlers coming, like tiiem, from Des Moines, but thev
were first in the County of permanent settlers and the fact has to be recog-
nized and recorflcd. The next settler, and the one wdio for a quarter of a
century was supposed to have been the first in the County, was Wm. Parker.
He located on the Southern edge of Collins Township, and there established

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 31

the homestead upon which he hved and died. Writing inider date of June
23d, 1876, for the purpose of estabhshing his record of settlement, lie said :
"In the fall of 1848. I came to Story County and built me a log cabin, size,
12x14 feet. April 12, 1849, I came to my cabin. It had no opening for
door or window. I cut out a door with my ax, so I could carry my goods in,
and moved into the pen, without roof or floor, I cut a tree for boards to
cover the cabin, took my wagon bed apart to make a floor in my mansion
to keep the two little babies off the ground ; and, being root hog or die, my
better half and I went to work. Some people say it is hard times now.
They do not know hard times when they see them. Let them take it rough
and tumble as I did, and they may talk. We lived in this hut till the
next August, when I put me up what was called a good house in those days.

I went 60 miles to mill, took me about a week to make the trip. We had a
cast iron mill in the neighborhood that we used to run by hand. We were
often glad to get a peck of corn cracked on this mill. Now I can go to mill
and return in half a day. I have now 230 acres of land, all fenced except

I I acres. Collins Township has improved in proportion."

The first of the settlers on Skunk River was John H. Keigley. He lo-
cated in the Northeastern part of Franklin Township, west of Skunk, and
near the stream which is known as Keigley's branch. He lived there for
many years and spent his old age in Ames, where he died. He was a man
of much force and was always prominent in the affairs of his portion of the
County. It happens that in 1869, some one, writing to the Story County
7Egis concerning some matters of early history, invited by his narra-
tions some correction, which Mr. Keigley, in a note to the then editor,
made in the following statement: '"In company with Nathaniel Jennings, I
landed in Skunk River, Franklin Township. November, 185 1, and erected
a cabin on the farm where I now reside. Then as Alexander Sellkirk, T
was monarch of all I surveyed.' The next to locate on Skunk River was
Jesse Housong and William Arrasmith and families who came in the fall of
1852. Next came Franklin Thompson, William D. Evans, E. C. Evans and
families. Then the following February, 1853, James Smith and sons lo-
cated in Lafayette Township, his being the seventh family to locate on
Skunk River, and not the first. I could give the settlement of each further
if necessary. It was not my intention to write a full history of our County,
but to correct an error."

The last of Mr. Keigley's observations suggests how some of the diffi-
culties of compiling the earliest history of the County nu'ght have been
obviated ; for, in fact, there was none of the earlier settlers better qualified
than himself to have written a full history of the County any time: and if
he had done so, instead of excusing himself for not doing so, we shoidd
now be very glad. It will be noted that Mr. Keigley, in this statement,
while he denies to James Smith the credit of being the first settler on Skunk,
which credit we think was never really claimed for him, fixed him definitely
as the first settler in Lafayette; also, contemporaneous with Mr. Keigley,

32 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

was his brother-in-law. Xathaniel Jennings, a bachelor, who never married,
but who made his home with the Keigleys until the call for arms in 1861.
Then he went out with Company E of tlie Third Iowa Infantry, of which
Company he was defeated for a Lieutenancy by one single vote, and he
died in the service at Memphis in August. 1862. Other testimony, con-
cerning the first settlers on Skunk, is offered by Stephen P. O'Brien. He
came to the County in October, 1852, and is the sole present day survivor of
these men who settled in that locality before the organization of the County.
He cites that in .Xovemher, 1852. a Presidential Election was held for the
settlement on .^kuuk River and Squaw Fork and returns made to Boone
(or Polk) County. This was the first election to be held in the county or
at least in that part of the County, and it appears to have been held for the
west part of the County. The election was held at the home of Shadrick
Worrell in Worrell's Grove, near the old time village of Xew Philadelphia,
and probably a dozen votes were cast. Those now recalled who supposedly
participated in this election are John H. Keigley, Nathaniel Jennings, Samuel
Hiestand. John Wheeler. John T. Wheeler, Thomas N'^est, Shadrick Worrell.
Eli Deal, Sr.. and John Housong.

In the same year, there was also an election at Sam McDaniels' shanty
on the east side of East Indian, a mile or so South of Hickory Grove.
W. K. Wood and doubtless Isaac S. French participated in this election,
as presumably did also Curtis J. Brown, George M. Kirkman, Jeremiah
Corey, George Dye. Adolphus Prouty, James Sellers, .Squire J. P. Robinson,
Isaac S. French and some others. Tradition ti.xes this election for August,
when the governor was being voted for.

We know of no returns now e.xtant of these elections, but among the
frontiersmen democrats usually predominated, and there can be little doubt
that the initial vote of Story County was recorded in favor of Stephen
Hempstead for governor or of Franklin Pierce for president.

Ne.xt of the pioneers who should here be separately specially mentioned,
is Isaac S. French, who was in the County in 1850 in Indian Creek Town-
ship and returned the next year and entered his first piece of land, .\fter-
wards he sold his land and located again at or near Colo, in which vil-
lage he now resides, he being the earliest of the surviving pioneers of the
County. He was followed to the county by several brothers and by his
father, Micah French, who was a soldier of the War of 1812. and who died
here long afterwards at the great age of 97.

Of the first settlers who located in one place and stayed there for the
balance of their lives priority, however, justly belongs to William K. Wood
of Iowa Center, lie located on the farm where he now resides in March,
1852, and in all of the nearly 60 years intervening, he has been counted
one of the most representative citizens of the County. In the early seven-
ties, he rei)resented the Ci>unty for two terms in the general assembly and
so long as he cared to do .so he exerted much influence in public affairs.
Prior to his location in Story County, he had settled on June 22. 1849,

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 33

in the edge of the timber which skirts Skunk River, in the North part of
Polk County, near the home of his brother-in-law. Calvin Corey, who had
located there two years before, and from whom the neighborhood had ac-
quired its name of Corey's Grove. After a time, however, he was not sat-
isfied at Corey's Grove, and took occasion to make a number of trips
around with others who were prospecting for land. In this way,
he first saw the locality on the east side of Indian Creek, near Iowa Cen-
ter, where is his present home and fann. One of these excursions was in
January. 1851, when he and three others were on the North side of Skunk
for four days, and slept on the ground with one blanket between them.
The only settler then in the eastern portion of the County, and so far as he
knew^ of the County as a whole, was William Parker before mentioned.
He selected a quarter section of school land, which to him was the most
attractive piece he could find on all the prairie, and though it was not then
subject to entry and purchase, he ran his chance and later took possession.
After a time he perfected his title by having the land appraised, as was
provided for school lands, and he paid the price to Stephen O'Brien, now
of Ames, who had become the School Fund Commissioner. In February of
the following winter, 1852, he helped Adolphus Prouty to move over from
Corey's Grove to Iowa Center, making Prouty the next after Parker and
•French of the settlers in this portion of the County. Then he built a three-
sided slab shanty for himself on his piece of school land, built a big bon fire
against a tree on the fourth side, and was prepared to be at home. In the
last of Alarch. he brought over his wife and part of their belongings, and
thus they became the next of the families in this part of the County.

Some of Mr. Wood's reminiscences, dictated several years ago, afford
a somewhat definite picture of some conditions as they were in the prospec-
tive county at this time. Directly after his settlement, there came a heavy
snow, and he hurried back to Corey's Grove to transport provisions before
the thaw should come, but the thaw got the start of him and it made the
snow and ice slump and Skunk River a sea. The river was between him
and home, but he got over it all somehow, and then it took him all night to
make the distance from there home. The oxen could hardly get along.
He had to unload and pull his wagon out several times, and was in the snow
from ankle to hip deep all the time. Arriving home, he could barely tarry
for breakfast and then started back to the Grove after his brother, Jesse,
whose leg had been badly injured by a kick from a horse. He borrowed Mr.
Prouty's horse for Jesse to ride, and in returning home, they had more
trouble in getting the horse to swim Skunk, and when they reached the
Calumus, he carried Jesse across on his back. Twelve days later, he made
another trip to look after his stock. Skunk was as high as ever. The raft
was on the opposite side and the icy condition of the river such as to make
swimming risky. He remembered an up-turned tree a quarter of a mile
below, found it bv a few of its roots that remaineil above water, took off
his pants, tied them around his neck, crawled out on the submerged log as

34 HISTORY OF STORY COUXTY

far as possible, gave the best possible jump, and landed in water up to his
neck. It was just dark when he emerged from his bath, but he was on the
other side of the river, and he reached Corey's Grove none the worse for
the episode. Soon after, he built a good log house, fastened together with
pins. There was not a nail about it, nor a stick of lumber except what he
had hewed. Wooden hinges were made for tlie door, and the chimney was
curbed by stocks and mortar built up outside. It was in this time that oc-
curred the first death in that cjuarter. being that of a Norwegian stranger,
who was crossing the ])rairie. Settlers heard of him. found him dead under
his wagon and buried hini. and his grave was the first in the present
cemetery.

Little accidents in that time made lots of trouble. In the first summer,
Mr. Wood broke the point of his plow and it took him three days to get it
mended. He tied a i)ole to the hind wheels of his wagon, tied the i>low on,
liitcJied the oxen to the rig. perched himself on it part of the time, walked
the rest, and made the tri]) to Des Moines and had the plow mended. The
oxen crossed the Skunk willingly when Southward bound : because they
were going toward their old home pasture, but on the return it was different.
They did not like to forsake the Folk County blue stem. He drove them
into the river, but they turned, tloundered, and as one of thcTii l)egan to
dro\vn. he had to swim in and unyoke them and get tliem back to the shore,*
and 'hen tish the cart and ])low out with a grape vine. Twice he went
tiirougii this ])rocess. but finally hitched the grape vine to the leader and
went ahead and i)ulled while a friend from Corey's Grove drove, and the
crossing was effected.

Under such conditions, neighbors were very welcome indeed, and the
settlers were ready to give time, effort and, in fact, anything in their jiower
to make newcomers welcome. .\11 were poor, but they gladly shared their
fare with those who came, and the little cabins sometimes sheltered as many
as could be stowed on the floor. One time two men came from above Des
Moines for prospecting, the flood detained them for two days, and they be-
came anxious and wanted help homeward. Mr. WockI knew a place two
miles below where he could cross Indian Creek with his horse if he was a
good swimmer. Tlicy found the place, but the boat was on the other side.
He started across on the horse and tlie other two horses followed ; but soon
the two unaccustomed to swimming became frightened and scared his horse
also, so that he wa^ obliged to draw the lu)rse's head under water and slide
off and get away from the floundering three animals which threatened to
drown them. As the horses all diifted down stream and became tangled in
grape vines, Mr. Wood had U> swim and release them and bring them back
one at a time and get the boat and take the men across, they leading the
horses. He went on with them and helped them across Skunk, and they
arrived at Corey's Grove. They had been out since an early dinner, and he
had spent five hours in the water. The travelers gave him a dollar.

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 35

One of the earliest settlers, who was long and very prominently known
in his part of the County, was W. W. Utterback, who located on Christmas,
1852. on the east edge of Nevada Township, in the shelter of Hickory Grove,
and lived there until his death very many years afterward. His daughter,
Joanna, now Mrs. Ehvood of Colo, tells something of their arrival in the
County. The father had first visited the County in the preceding fall. He
went to see his brother-in-law. James Sellers, who had, during the year, lo-
cated in the immediate vicinity of the present village of Ma.xwell. Mr. Utter-
back liked the Country, and his brother-in-law assured him that there would
be a big immigration to the County early the next spring, that all the new-
comers would want timber land, and that the ones who came first would have
best choice. Mr. Utterback was anxious to leave Illinois, because the family
were all suffering there from fever and ague, and he had been told that in
Iowa, after getting as far North as the 42d parallel, there was freedom from
these diseases. He had been accustomed to the wooded country and could
not think of settling where there was not timber, so he hurried back to
Illinois, sold his farm and everything else except what could be loaded into
or hitched to a covered wagon, and was ready in a week to emigrate. Three
vokes of oxen, a horse, and a yearling colt were the live stock aboard. Per-
haps four weeks were spent on the road, and as they were crossing Skunk
River, one of the oxen fell on the ice and broke his leg. They had to leave
him and his mate ; as it was getting cold and beginning to snow, and so they
started across the prairie. There was no house between Skunk River and
the prairie, but they had not gone far when they met Isaac French and an-
other young man. and Mr. French took off his head oxen and hitched them
before the Utterback team. Mr. French said his oxen would take them all
to Sellers' house without any guidance, and it was snowing and blowing so
that they could not see sled tracks. It was just getting dark when hey
reached Indian Creek, and Mr. Utterback was afraid to drive onto the ice
so he unhitched the oxen and led them across, and they all walked up to Mr.
Sellers' Cabin, about a quarter of a mile from this creek. Mr. Sellers was
up the creek hunting deer, for deer and elk were plenty and furnished meat
for the family; but Mrs. Sellers had a welcome for them all, and she made
a big fire with logs in the fire place. That was on Christmas Eve of 1852.
Mr. Utterback soon got 160 acres, as above noted, buying out the claim of a
squatter by the name of John Cox, who had built a cabin and cleared oft'
three or four acres of timber; that is, he paid the man for his improvements.
Mr. Utterback. however, entered the land from the Government. They then
had to go to Des Moines for their mail, and to Oskaloosa to mill and for
trading; but, as Mr. Sellers had indicated, the County soon began to settle
and before long. Iowa Center and Nevada were trading points. Incidentally,
the 42d parallel, which was sought as promising exemption from fever and
ague, runs across the North part of the Utterback farm.

This year of 1852 is the one in the course of which came in the most of
the settlers who were to have the honor of participating in the organization

36 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

of the County. Prior to this year, the number who had found their way into
the County was so small, and their locations as a rule were so remote from
each other, that anything in the way of the formation of a unit was out of
the question, even if there had not been the very great troubles before men-
tioned, relating to Skunk River and nameless but numerous sloughs. Hut
Boone and .Marsliall Counties had both been properly organized in 1849 ^Jid
Polk and Jasper some time before. The skirmishers of the advancing line of
migration had already reached the intervening County, and it was evident
that the intlu.x of the human tide was close at hand. In all of the new settle-
ments, the very first occupants of the Country were the squatters who ex-
pected, by occupying the land, to be able, when the lands should be opened
to entry, to make the most advantageous selections ; but, with the opening of
lands for entry, there was always a new tide of people seeking to possess the
new country at Government prices for land. Story County at this time had
the skirmishers already within its borders ; and its lands had become, in spite
of sloughs and of Skunk River, the most attractive that there were left.

As was noted in the story, in connection with the Utterbacks. tliose who
were on the ground were confident that the ne.xt year would bring a very
material change, and these conclusions appear now to have been fully war-
ranted. Of course, Skunk River continued to be bad for a dozen or 15
years ; but the sloughs, however disagreeable, were only an incident to the
Country and were not. in fact, its dominating feature ; nor did the rush ponds
spread so wide but that there was between them a very large amount of up-
land, such as would be the most attractive to the settler when once means of
communication and transportation should be provided, or the prospective
number of settlers should be such as to promise early unity of action in the
matter of providing such means of transportation and communication. The
time had coirie to make a County ; and. notwithstanding the meagre means
which the emigrants were bringing into the county, there was manifest con-
fidence in the future. Those who were here, and coming in and getting pos-
session of the land, were sure that there would be an early rise in values and
the spirit of hopefulness appears to have been about as high as it well could
be in a frontier settlement. The time for the making of Story had been a
little slow in its arrival ; but the delay meant nothing of loss in the matter of
ultimate prospects, and incentive for moving in, establishing homes, and
building up the County, was abundant.

i'.iil those who came in in this year, with all the e.xultancc of their hopes,
had virtually all the County to jiick froiri. One of these incomers, who has
left some record of his arrival, was Jmliah Ray. He came in in November,
over the Jasper county trail, crossing tiie county line near the head waters of
Wolf Creek somewhat w-est of the residence of William Parker. He drove
northwesterly, seeking the cabin of Sam McDaniel. which seems *.o have
been a rendezvous for what settlers there were then in the County, and was
the place before noted at which the election of 1852 had been held in this
portion of the County, .\bout the time that he saw the smoke of the Mc-

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 37

Daniel cabin, he met on the prairie a man, who proved to be Barnabas Lowell,
very unattractive of appearance, but nevertheless disposed to make his ac-
quaintance. Lowell guided Ray and his family to the McDaniel cabin, where
a rather rough crowd was found, who played cards and drank whisky far
into the night. So uninviting was the outfit that Ray and his wife declined
the hospitalities of the cabin, and spent the night in the shelter of the wagon.
Ray got away as early as he could the next morning ; and, while it does not
appear that there was anything worse about McDaniel than the sort of com-
pany about him, Lowell subsequently appears as being of the type that are
too often found upon the far frontier, lawless and reckless, and suited to
give a bad reputation to the locality where such type is found. Ray turned
to the Southwest and found the home of Hiram \'incent in the Western part
of Indian Creek Township, and in that locality made his own settlement. At
this time the settler farthest North, in the vicinity of West Indian Creek, was
Joseph P. Robinson, and indeed he appears to have been the only settler at
that time between the forks of the two Indians. His home bordered the tim-
ber on the east side of West Indian Creek, not far from the center of Sec-
tion 29 in Nevada Township. He was a hale old man, with a numerous
family, mostly grown, and was a man much esteemed among such neighbors
as he had. So far as recorded, he was the first Justice of the Peace, and
certainly he conducted the first preliminary examination ever held in the
County.

Over on Skunk in the previous October there had arrived Judge E. C.
Evans and his brother, William D., Stephen P. O'Brien and others. Samuel
Hiestand, father-in-law of O'Brien, had preceded them, but had been back
to Illinois for others of his family, and was one of the party that arrived
about this time. One effect of this arrival was to bring the Western settle-
ment over to the east side of Skunk, in the bend North of Ames. The village
of Bloomington was not actually started until some time later, but the lo-
cality has since been known by that name; and if the railroad, when it came,
had passed through that neighborhood instead of leaving it a couple of miles
or more to the Northward, probably Bloomington would to this day have
been one of the most important towns in Story County. There was a good
ford across Skunk in this neighborhood, and the outlook was excellent so far
as the relations of the locality to the Western part of the County were con-
cerned. Among the settlers in this locality was William Arrasmith, who was,
with the exception of S. P. O'Brien, the last survivor of the original squat-
ters there, and whose wife still lives at Ames.

CHAITF.R \".

THE NEW COUXTY.

From the discussion of the settlements such as have been noted, the
review passes naturally to the organization of the new County. There
seems to have been concurrence of action on this subject, for the General
Assembly on the I2th day of January authorized the organization. Samuel
B. McCall, who was then County Judge of Boone County, and afterwards
Captain of Company E of the Third Iowa Infantry, wlio also, though never
a citizen of Story County, figured in the affairs and history of the County
probably more than did any other non-resident, and who still lives, or not
long ago did live in the Soldiers' Home at Santa Monica. California, was
authorized to divide the County into the necessary precincts, for the purpose
of holding an election for County piirjioses ; and Commissioners were ap-
pointed to locate tiie County Seat of the new County. The election was
held on ,\pril 4. 1S33. and the County Seat was located nn June 27th of the
same year. Juclge McCall divided the CoiuUy into two Townshi|)s for the
purpose of this election. The eastern half or more of the County being in-
cluded in Indi.m Creek Townshi]). while some confusion of names as to the
Western Township seems unnecessarily to have arisen, but jirobably Skunk-
River was the name. The fact, however that there was a section of the
County willing to be known permanently as Indian Creek, while seemingly,
there was no corresponding portion that wanted to be known always by the
name of Skunk, has made the difference between one name continuing on
the maj) and the other being relegated to innocuous desuetude. At any rate,
the election was held and the settlers in the two utterly separated portions
of the County agreed on each side on a slate of candidates and voted for
theiu straight. The one exception to this rule was in favor of John Zenor
of the Stjuaw Creek neighlxjrhood who received the unanimous vote of 64
for Recorder. The result of this election it is worth while to .set down in
detail. E. C. Evans was elected Coimty Judge by 37 votes to 26 for
Adoli)luis IVouty. I'ranklin Thomp.son was elected Clerk by 36 votes to 24
for E. II. Billings. Eli Deal was elected Sheriff by ^j votes to 27 for I. X.
Alderman. Otho I'rench was elected Surveyor by 31 votes to 19 for Frank-
lin Thomjison. Shadrick Worrell had the solid West side vote of 35 for
Coroner, with no vn<t '^ide opposition. John Keigley was elected School

38

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 39

Fund Commissioner by 32 votes against 23 for David Xeal. The returns of
this election were canvassed by Judge McCall, with the assistance of
Adolphus Prouty and James Corbin, Justices of the Peace, and so the new
County Government was ready to start.

Under the first constitution of the State of Iowa, which was adopted
at the admission of the State in 1846, the County Judge possessed almost
autx)cratic powers with respect to the affairs of his County. There was
then no Board of Supervisors, and the revenues of the County were collected
and disbursed very much according to the discretion of the County Judge.
The election therefore of Evan C. Evans as the first County Judge, was a
matter of no small consequence, and was significant of the high degree of
confidence entertained for him in the neighborhood where he resided and
was known. The salary attached to his office was small, and the first
formal record book of the County indicates that he must have done a good
deal of work for the compensation he received; but the work he had he
attended to faithfully, and the people continued him in office, without regard
to political differences, for several years even after political differences had
arisen and had come sharply to divide the County, the opposing democrats,
who for a time had the majority in the County, were able to keep him out
of the office for but a single term, and with the exception of this term, he
continued in the office from the beginning of the County until 1865, when
he seems to have voluntarily given up the office of County Judge. Doubtless
he did this the more readily for the reason that the office had by this time
been shorn of very much of its power as the result of the creation of the
Board of Supervisors, and he accepted instead the office of County Re-
corder.

It was fortunate indeed for the young County that a man of Judge
Evans' worth was, in the formative time of the County, put in charge of
its affairs. The extent of this fortune is only to be appreciated through
comparison of the proceedings in this County with those in other Counties,
wherein the County Judges were sometimes chosen, not in the interest of the
County but in the interest of the too enterprising individuals who chose
them. In the Northwestern part of Iowa, as well as in other states, where
considerable tracts of country had been marked off by legislative enact-
ments as Counties, and left to the control of whatever individuals should
happen first to move into them, either for temporary purposes or of per-
manent residence, it very often happened that the County affairs were
conducted with a single view to running the County into debt as far as pos-
sible and dividing the [Proceeds among the men running the County. O'Brien
and other Counties in North-western Iowa, and any number of Counties in
Kansas were the scenes of political enterprises of this order, and when the
bona fide settlers really came into such Counties, in the hope of permanent
residence and of up-building worthy communities, they found the County
organization already made, and the County finances hopelessly involved.
In such cases, debts had been contracted for Court Houses that were never

40 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

built: bridges had been ordered, half of the payment for which was to be
made when work should be commenced, and the laying of a single stick of
timber upon the ground was made the occasion for such payment and
marked all there was of the enterprise, except the matter of redeeming
the public obligations later on.

But no such scandals pertained to the organization of Story County
and to its early administration by Judge Evans. In fact, never in the early
organization nor later on, has there been but one defalcation by a County
Officer, and, in this case, the loss to be borne by the County was small. To
Judge Evans it fell to make the first ])ermanent division of the County into
Townships, to secure the early record books, to contract for the building
of the first Court House, and to start the County generally on its way to its
present development. The only considerable debt which the County in-
curred during the period of his ascendency was the result of the aid voted
by the people for the location of the Iowa Agricultural College, and such
further obligations as may have been incurred in the securing of enlistments
for the War, or the caring for dependent families at home. The record is a
splendid one. which shines by comparison with many others, and is fairly
typical of the whole story of the County.

One of tlie first official acts of Judge Evans was to appoint a County
Assessor. The office was an elective one, and there is no valid reason why
it should not have been filled at the first election of the County in April,
1853. but the simple fact was that the office was forgotten, and no one was
voted for to fill it in either Skunk River or Indian Creek Township. There
being thus a vacancy. Judge Evans appointed to fill it Stephen P. O'Hrien.
whp had settled in the County as before noted, in the October preceding,
and had been present at the election for county organization but had then
lacked a few days of being six months in the State. He had therefore not
been eligible to vote at that time, but when the occasion came for filling the
Assessorship by appointment, he was eligible and was appointed. Mr.
O'Brien made the assessment in Jime of 1853. He says that he was paid
$1.50 a day for the work, and the first formal entry in the existing record
book of the County Judge is an order marked "No. i," tliat Stephen P.
O'Brien received $36.00 for services as Assessor of Story County. This
record book does not. in its dates, go back to the time of the .April election
in "53. and the inference is that the still earlier records, what there were of
them, were kept on loose sheets of pajier and their whereabouts now, if
any of them still exist, would be very hard to determine. But this record,
made in October of that year, shows that Mr. O'Brien was credited with
twenty-four days work, and his story for it is that he assessed ninety-nine
men. Among those whom be asses.sed on the Western side of the County
were Squire M. Corey, Shadrick Worrell, Thomas Vest, John Wheeler, John
T. Wheeler, F"-li Deal, J. B. Zenor. R. J. Zcnor, J. J. Zenor, Jacob Wheeler,
John Housong. Michael Deal. James Briley. Saitiuel Hiestand, John II.

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 41

Keigley. Nathaniel Jennings, E. C. Evans, William D. Evans, F'rank
Thompson, Eli French and P. R. Craig.

The foregoing all lived in the part of the county where Mr. O'Brien
lived and with which he was familiar, but his jurisdiction extended to the
settlements on Indian Creek and eastward, and so he started out afoot to
reach his constituents on the other side of the wide, pathless apd slough in-
terrupted prairie. The first home he reached on this journey was that of
J. P. Robinson before mentioned, on the east side of West Indian Creek
in the Southern part of Nevada Township. Proceeding South and East, his
next stop, and the only one on the West side of East Indian, was with
Elisha Alderman. Crossing the East Indian, he visited the two Pearsons,
two Proutys, Geo. Dye, W. K. Wood, William Parker, James Sellers, the
two Brouhards, W. W. Utterback and Sam McDaniel. The last named
he met on the prairie and McDaniel told him that he was going to Newton
to get two doctors to examine the body of Mrs. Lowell, who had died very
suddenly and was believed to have been murdered by her husband. Con-
tinuing on his circuit, he visited the Lowell cabin on the West side of East
Indian, across the Creek from the McDaniel farm, and assessed Lowell,
and found Lowell there. Lowell had not yet been arrested but was expect-
ing that he soon would be; and, in fact, O'Brien, on his way home across
the prairie, met Sheriff Zenor and Coroner Deal on their way to make the
arrest.

THE FIRST M.URDER.

Story County has been fortunate in not having very many murder cases,
but of such cases as it has had, the most revolting appears to have been the
first one. This was the case already referred to, wherein Barnabas Lowell
was believed to have murdered his wife. Further developments did not in
anv wise remove the first impression. The essential fact of the matter seems
to have been that Lowell tired of his wife and choked her to death. Lowell,
as before noted, was one of the following of Sam McDaniel. Associated
with the two was a young man named Billings, whom McDaniel had met in
Jasper County and brought home, and who married McDaniel's sister.
Lowell seems to have followed Billings to the neighborhood and brought
with him his family, consisting of his second wife and two practically grown
girls. Lowell crossed the creek and built his cabin in the edge of the timber
on the east side, on a farm which, for many years, has been the property of
John M. Wells.

The first person, outside the Lowell family, to be advised that anything
was wrong, was Mrs. Mary Hagfue, a widow who had that Spring moved
into the Country and established herself, for the time being, a little North of
the Lowell cabin. She had been preceded by her son, Isaac, and was accom-
panied by her son-in-law, S. Harvey Dye, as well as by the younger children ;
and her family have been more or less prominent and always highly es-
teemed in the vicinity since. One of the Lowell girls came over on Sunday

42 HISTORY OF STORY COUXTY

niglit and urged .Mrs. Hague's immediate attention, as her mother was very
ill. Mrs. Hague responding, found the woman dead. The circumstances
immediately aroused suspicion, for there was no apparent reason for the
woman's death, and she had been quite well when the family dined that day
at the McDanicl cabin. Furthermore, there was about her neck a coarse
handkerchief-, which Lowell refused to have removed, and his whole atti-
tude was that of one who did not want the body to be examined by Mrs.
Hague or any of the other neighbors who had in the meantime come in.
The body was buried in what was known as the Mount Cemetery on the
McDaniel's farm; but tlie neighbors were not satisfied, and, as noted, Mc-
Daniel went to Newton for doctors, and the doctors, when they came, found
plenty of evidence of foul play. The Lowell girls, when matters had pro-
gressed far enough so that they dared to tell something of what they knew,
in spite of their father's threats, related how he had shut the door between
the two compartments of the Lowell cabin, and had refused to let them come
in, notwitlistanding the very great disturbance in the room where he and his
wife were. There were sounds as of striking, choking and struggling, but
I,owell was a man of much strength and the struggle did not last very long.
It was also said by the girls that their own mother. Lowell's former wife, had
died under similar circumstances in Ohio; and it seems not to be doubted
that Lowell was a man of Bluebeard disposition, who married women as he
had opportunity and felt inclined, and ilisposed of them when weary of llieni.
The County at this time was organized, but had not yet liad a term of
District Court. There were Justices of the I'eace. however, and Squire j.
P. Robinson held the preliminary examination over tlie Lowell case. The
examination was htld at the house of a Mr. llcald, and it is said that Lowell
lay ujjon the bed and threatened those who testified against him. He was
reputed to have been a pirate in his earlier years, and he carried a sheath
knife on his leg. 1 luie was consequentlx no great anxiety to testify against
him; but the case was clear and there was no disposition on the jiart of any
to let such a malefactor go. There is indeed a story that has oft been told,
although probably not true ; but it is so much a part of the early traditions of
the Ct)unty that it must be recorded here: The story is that Squire Robin-
son, when he reached llie conclusion of the case, became confused as to his
jurisdiction as an examining magistrate and i)rt)ceeilcd to sentence Lowell,
as being an undoubted murderer, to be hanged. Whetiier tlie story is merely
one of the sort that i)eople in any new Country delight to tell on each other,
or was really with some foundation, the preliminary examination was not
followed by summary jiroceedings. but Lowell was sent to Des Moines to
jail to await the action of the (.irand Jury.

The district judge for this District was at the time William McKay of
Des Moines. He convened a s])ecial term of Court for Story County to
attend to Lowell's case, and the Court was held in September, at tlie home
of Judge Evans, on the west edge of Milford Township, in the Blooniington
neighborhood. The Grand Jury was empaneled, anil it .ijjpears as a slightly

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 43

remarkaMe ctHnddence. that Squire T- P- Robmscm, who had presided ai the
preliminary esanmiaQon. and has so often claimed to have sentenced LowdU
to be hnng. was foreman of the grand jury". Other members of the grand
juTT were Sanmel Hiesond, John EL Keigley. William D. Evans, Xathaniel
Jennings. David WHkinsoD. Jeremiah Corey. William K. Wood. Hiram Vir.-
cent, David B. XeaL Judiah Ray. Horace Heald. John G. Sellers.
WiDdnstm and Jcdm Zeoor. The bailiu was Wflliam A"
court officers, aside from Jndge McKay, were Frank T
Eli DeaL as dieriff; and W. \V. WHkinsfm of Des Moines as district at-
torney. This was the first :•: - ' ' " ' - art in the cocmr}'
very short term, lastii^. we : : ' _ ne day, and cercz.:r
Than two days. An indictment fcM" nmrder was very prcmq)dy returr - '- :-'
LowelL who had made ccmsideraHe tr ' ' i broij^bt iq) :

at if the sani- _
served <m the Gr^:
- as to his case w: -

McMnes f or arra^innient, was possibly i_

who had coodncted the preliminary exa;

Jmy, sfaonld also cMistitnte the :- - j-

prdbaiAy be qnite weD made up. iii- ic r;_:.- - -'r - ■— -i: -_-;

peof^ of Story Comity were prejudiced against : ; r s.

diange : " - diai^e was j ' ' _ " ^ :

trans: t" ivry. where _. . _ . .

guilty -'T-. red to stare ' '

was r- '

meni. o-. ..^■- ;--...; r-^-:- ^-■._-i— __: r_ . ^.-^^

for as to many criminal cases in later year? e to

let it go that Lowell fared about as -

setts ~-e^r -'-e =—=-■"---— - —

in the . . -' .

the stiver" r.an giris grew v

ibe mam basinet of which wa- the gTar::.n;

to him of 1 ' - " '~y. •^•i- '

Creek anc - ;„ ^rrr -

the coontj is. they rairie, wiii<ii trail

appes.-

3icre£- - ■ -

This :: 1— \'r.---: -^ ^ ! i —nt effect ' _ . ■ -- ; :

ifaeccurr. - ' . r

s: aot vet \-- --- :

i ^ \- ■^' *_

NXY Si_\T.

As before r - ^ f 1853 ^

caie a rctnrr ;;^-. :_: _-:_; ..: . Xhe ,.

44 lllSTUKV OF STORY COUNTY

Thrift of Boone Count}- ; jolinson Edgar of Jasper County; and Thomas
Mitchell of Polk Count)-. The last named of the three was the one who. in
after years and probably then, was the best known of any of the three in the
state, but he was detained at home by illness in his family, and did not. in
fact, have anything to do with the location of the new county seat. Messrs.
Thrift and Edgar, however, attended, according to such appointment as be-
fore mentioned, on the 27th day of June. 1853; and a large portion of the
adult male population of the county, as well as some strangers looking for
opportunities for investment, were present watching tiie proceedings.

The commissioners looked the country- over in the vicinity of the center
of the county, and for reasons which appeared good to them, finally made
the choice of the east half of the northwest quarter and the west half of the
northeast quarter, both in Section 7, Township 83, Range 22. west of the I-'ifth
Principal Meridian. Having made this selection of a site, the next thing
was to choose a name. Mr. Thrift has been a "I-'orty-niner" in California,
and in his journey across the continent had greatly admireil the Sierras
N'evada ; so he ])roposed to his colleague that they name the new town
Nevada. Mr. Edgar readily agreed and no one else objecting, the name was
determined. This event, be it noted, was all of ten years antecedent to the
naming of the state of Nevada for the same mountains, and any suggestion
therefore that the name of the county seat of Story County was taken from
that of a decadent mining camp on the borders of the great American desert,
is without foundation. If one political division coukl be imputed to be named
for the other, it would be the state for the county seat ; but, as a matter of
fact, botli were nanied for the mountains, and the county seat does not even
have to accept responsibility for the unpromising state.

The C(junty seat liaving been located, and all the territory there alwut be-
ing government land, it became the duty of Judge Evans, as the general ad-
ministrator of the county, to enter tlie land with the cfovernment in the name
of the county, and obtain jjossession thus of the town i)lat ; but Judge l'2vans
appears to have been a little slow in the matler. and a Des Moines speculator
named Jenkins W. Morris, presumably getting information of the action of
the commissioners, entered the land on the ist of July, and thus put matters
in a position to drive a bargain with the county, lie was not. however, in
position to drive an especially hard bargain; for tiiere was i)lemy of prairie
soil about ; and if too much annoyance were to be occasioned, the commission-
ers might perhaps be again called together an<l a new county seat determined
ujjon ; sf) Judge Evans and Mr. Morris reached a compromise, in accordance
with which .Mr. Morris conveyed the land to the county, and the two eiglity
acre tracts were platted into the original town of Nevada. Later, tiie judge.
on behalf of the county, conveyed back to Morris one-third of the lots in the
town plat. Undoubtedly, this transaction in time yielded to Morris a liberal
profit on his speculation. l)ut town lots were not then very valuable. There
was noljody here that was ready to move onto one nf them, and he had to
wait for some lime before he could dispose of his holdings.

X. E. ALDERMAN
The Founder of Nevada

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 45

Following the location of the county seat, and pending the conclusion of
the deal with Morris, the town site was platted by Mr. Barnard, a surveyor
of Polk County, in 49 blocks, three separate half blocks being reserved for
public uses. These three half blocks were the north half of the present
court house block ; the north half of the present city park, and the east half
of the block immediately southwest of the court house block. The last
named was the original court house block, on which in due season and as
soon as the county judge could, in the following season, make the necessary
arrangements, there was erected the first court house. The other two half
blocks, one of them north of the slough and the other south of it, became the
centers about which gathered the local business interests, whose rivalries
divided the town for many years, with disastrous results that have been al-
ready noted and will be further enlarged upon. Just why the people who
were conducting this business did not put their two half blocks of reserva-
tion for general uses, both on the same block, and have the town about that
block, we have never seen explained ; but in these two "squares," there were
seeds of discord which were destined to propagate, and the sowing of which
creates the only occasion that we know of for a grudge by the later generation
against the original founders of the town.

THE FIRST INH.\BIT.\NT.

Among the strangers, who were present when the commissioners located
the county seat, was Theodore E. Alderman. He was then not quite 28
years of age, had been fanning in Lee County for two or three years, and
had there his wife and oldest son, Oscar B. He had found it desirable,
owing to the condition of his eye sight, to seek indoor occupation ; so he
made a trip into the central part of the state to pick out a location for a
mercantile business, and, learning of the plan to designate a county seat
for Story County, he came with the commissioners and the crowd to watch
the proceeding. Approving of the location, and being convinced by the ap-
pearance of the country and its people that there was here a good
business opportunity, he determined at once to come to Nevada and estab-
lish here a general store for the pioneer trade. He was here again at the
first sale of lots, in the following September, and he then secured two lots
at the west end of the south half of what is now the court house block,
and engaged Squire Robinson to haul logs for his first cabin. This cabin
was erected as speedily as possible, and as nearly as can be told, it was on
the site that is now marked by a monument in the southwestern portion of
the court house grounds. The monument bears the inscription, "Nevada
founded here October 11, 1853, by T. E. and Hannah Alderman." It was
on the date here indicated that Mr. Alderman and his little family actually
occupied the primitive home, which was the first structure of any sort
erected on the town site of Nevada. The cabin was 16x20 feet, and within
a few weeks, another room of the same size was added on the west side.

Vol. 1—4

46 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

In this building Mr. Alderman and family spent the folU)\\ing winter of
■53 and '54 as the only residents of Nevada, having there their home, his
store and the necessary hotel accommodations for the wayfarer when the
same had to be afTorded.

The second house was built in the following spring by John McLain.
It was located two blocks west of the Main street of Nevada, at the corner
of Chestnut street and First Avenue north, and it was intended for the ac-
commodation of the traveling i)ublic. being more commodious and better
adapted to the purpose than the Alderman home, which, indeed, had never
been intended for hotel purjioses and bad been used as such only as necessity
.d)solutely required. From the building of the Mcl.ain home, the business
of the town was divided. Alderman continuing as the merchant, and
McLain carrying for the transient iniblic.

At this time, it should he noted that Nevada, with its two houses, was
not only the principal town of the county, hut it was the only town of the
county, having as yet no rivals anywhere, and having apparently all the
]irospects which could be desired for the metropolis of the prairie on which
the people were locating about as rapidly as they could conveniently locate.
I'oth houses and business establishments were on the north side, and the
spirit of cooperation dominated the whole community. No county seat
fight had developed, no railroad was in prospect for the county seat, or for
any other i)lace in the county. The rivalry between the east and west sides,
which liacl been developed in tiie initial election of 1853, had died down
when the trail had been established across the county, incidentally to the
Lowell trial or indictment, and whatever there was of municipal aspiration
or hope or endeavor in the county jiertained to Nevada. It is not therefore
an injustice to any other portion of the county to treat Nevada for the next
few years as svmbolizing the great part of the develo])mcnt of the comity
ai)art from the fact that into the southern half of the county and into the
northwestern portion there was a steady stream of settlement resulting in
due time in the estal)lishment of Iowa Center. Cambridge. I'airview, Bloom-
ington, New Albany and jjerhaps other \illages, which had smaller hopes,
but did not in any wise, that is recorded, antagonize the county seat. As is
alwavs the case with a rural comnnmity, the bulk of the po])iilation was out
on the farms, but the theatre of interest, where the connection is nnich the
easiest to follow, was in tlie town: and for the next few years, therefore,
the history of the county is in great part, the history of Nevada.

This condition must be the justification for giving in the next few
chapters, an undue prominence, perhaps, to the History of Nevada.

TOWNSHIPS.

But, before taking up more particularly the development of the county
seat in its ])ioneer stages, a little more detailed attention should be given to
the outside townships. The first definite division of the county into town-

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 47

ships was made by Judge Evans in June, 1853; or, at least, in his entries
upon the county records, he recognized them as certain townships then ex-
isting. These townships were FrankHn, comprising the present township
of that name, and the west half of Milford; Washington, comprising the
present township of tliat name and the west half of Grant ; Union, compris-
ing the present townships of Union and Palestine ; Lafayette, comprising
the present townships of Lafayette and Howard; Indian Creek, compris-
ing the present townships of Indian Creek and Collins; and Nevada, com-
prising the present townships of Nevada, New Albany, Sherman, Richland,
and the east half of Grant and Milford. The area now included in the
townships of Lincoln and Warrei: was without inhabitants, and was not
recognized in the original division, but was later, by order of Judge Evans,
attached to Nevada Township. The first township to be set ofT from this
original division was Collins, which was .set off from Indian Creek in 1857,
and New Albany, which included the present townships of New Albany
and Sherman and the eastern portion of Nevada, and perhaps Richland also
followed in 1858, as did Milford in 1858 and Palestine in 1859. The ne.xt
township to be set off from the others, as a separate township, was Howard,
which was in i860 constituted a township separate from Lafayette. Con-
cerning this action, tradition, which is supported by the record, is to the
effect that the new township was first designated Norway, in honor suppos-
ably of the people who were already settling there and have since been its
most numerous inhabitants. The plat upon the record still bears the name
of Norway, but in the order for the erection of the township the original
name has been very carefully erased and Howard inserted in a different
hand and with different ink. In June of 1858 a strip two miles by nine
miles off and north side of what was then Union Township and extending
to the west line of the county had been attached to Washington Township ;
but when in the next year Palestine was set up by itself this strip appears to
have been restored to the townships to which it naturally belonged. The
final arrangement of the townships of the central and northeastern parts
of the county, according to the congressional survey, was not effected until
well along in the sixties.

_ " REMINISCENCES IN 1859 OF STORY COUNTY.

Concerning these earlier townships, we are so fortunate as to find an
almost contemporaneous record, in the Story County Advocate of Septem-
ber 21, 1859. The editor of the paper undertook to publish such facts and
items of interest as he could gather up of the early settlement of Story
County, and to that end he gave a brief summary of the record of the sev-
eral townships as he was then able to ascertain it to be. The summary is
valuable, not only for what it tells, but for the illustration it affords of the
difficulty, even when one is close to the time under consideration, of getting
a straight story concerning almost any matter ; which, at the time it actually

48 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

occurred, was not of a nature to be written up carefully and accurately.
This review was written only seven years from the time when the first set-
tlers, in any numbers, began to drift into the portions of the county about
Indian Creek and Squaw Fork ; yet, we are able to find in the matter some
errors, now known to be such. The county was, in fact, organized in 1853;
although, as before related, elections were held here in 1852, in which year,
this review says, the county was organized. It is stated further that the
county seat was located by Joseph Thrift, and no mention was made of
Johnson Edgar, who was associated with him. The statement that J. P.
Robinson was the first settler in Nevada Township, needs the explanation
that at the time the statement was made, what is now the eastern portion
of the township, including Hickory Grove, was attached to New Albany
Township; and similarly. W. W. Utterback. who settled on Christmas,
1852, on the extreme eastern edge of what is now Nevada Township, is
credited to New Albany, and the date of his settlement given two months
later.

The village of New Albany, which is mentioned in connection with the
township of the same name, was a mile or so east of the Utterback farm,
and about perhaps two miles southwest of Colo, and we know that twenty-
five years ago or so. it was marked with an apple tree; but the review in
question is undoubtedly the first attempt by any one to set down facts about
Story County in the way of history; and not being very long, it deserves to
be reproduced here in full. The editor of the Story County Advocate says :

"Story County. — The county was organized in the year 1852.

"The county seat was located by Joseph Thrift, of Boone County, and
named Nevada by Judge E. C. Evans. It was the intention of the county
officials to have entered the town site in the name of the county at the county
land office, but on examination it was discovered that Dr. J. W. Morris,
of Des Moines, had already entered the land. After some consultation Dr.
Morris gave two-thirds of the tract up to the county, when it was laid ofT
into lots and two public sales had of the lots.

"Nevada Township. — The first settler was J. P. Robison in 1853. on
section — . T. E. Alderman was the next. Mr. .\. settled in Nevada village.
October 14. 1853, t)ein{,' the j)ionecr on lot five, block seventeen and erected
the first cabin in the i)lacc. Thomas Turtle settled on section 29, township
84. R. 22. December 20, 1855. Township 84 was attached to Nevada and
has remained so up to this time, for all township purposes.

"New Albany Township. — The eastern ])ortion is all prairie, of a good
quality for agricultural or stock |Hiri)oses. and rolling enough to be easilv
managed, the western portion is finely timbered and skirted by East Indian
Creek. John Cox settled on section 13. township 83. range 22. about the
year 1849, and sold out in 1835. and moved out of the county. Wm. W.
Utterback settled upon the above described land in February. 1853. and has
since resided thereon. He spent tiie winter previous in Indian Creek Town-

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 49

ship. He had to go to Oskaloosa to mill, as did all the first settlers, and to
Newton or Des Moines to trade.

"The village of New Albany is situated in this township.

"Indian Creek Township — This township is watered by several small
streams and Skunk river, East and West Indian creeks. It has a splendid
body of timber and rolling prairie of a rich quality. George Kirkman settled
in section — January 14, 1852. Wm. K. Wood moved upon section 16,
82, 22 in April, 1852, and Adolphus Prouty, about a month afterwards
moved nearby.

"Iowa Center, a thriving village, and the second in size in the county,
is situated about a half mile east of East Indian Creek, and is surrounded
on the north and west by timber. There are two steam saw and grist mills
there. About one half mile west of the village is the camp ground of the
Methodist Episcopal church at which yearly meetings are held.

"The Dunkards have a thriving settlement southeast of Iowa Center„
where yearly meetings are held.

"LaFayette Township. — Jesse R. Smith settled on section 18-85-23, Feb-
ruary 25, 1853. Mr. S. built the first and second cabins ever erected in
the township. The first was built in the month of July of the previous year
to the above date and was burned by the prairie fires during the fall and
winter, so that when he arrived with his family he was necessitated to raise
another. While hunting on the banks of the creek now known as Bear
Creek, March 10, 1854, he killed a bear, the only one ever shot in that re-
gion, and from which occurrence the creek received its name. Samuel Smith
and Daniel M. Prime, were in the company of first settlers also. Fairview
is the name of the principal town. Smithville was laid out once for a town
but has since been abandoned and is now a farm.

"Union Township. — The first settler was Josiah Chandler, who arrived
about the middle of March. 1854, and located on section 28, 82, 23, and
built a house. Mr. C's. family arrived in the month of April following.

"Skunk river traverses this township and is skirted with timber. The
prairie is very fertile.

"Cambridge is the village of this township. There is a water saw mill
and a very large steam flouring mill — orte of the best in the state, in the
town."

THE E.ARLIE.ST EDITORIAL ST.\TEMENT.

Kindred to the foregoing statement as to the townships but more com-
prehensive of the general situation is an editorial view, published in the
earliest number extant of the Story County Advocate, January 29, 1857.
We have sometimes supposed that this statement was written by Col. Scott,
who was already here, had had editorial experience and was doubtless most
familiar with the subject, but he refers to the article in his centennial oration
as being an editorial of Mr. Thrall. The article states :

50 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

"Owing to the tact that for several years after this part of Iowa was
opened for settlement tliose in search of homes kept along the larger streams,
the counties on the Iowa and Des Moines rivers were better known, and more
thickly settled. The great California route across luwa was through tlic tier
of counties lying south, and many settlers were influenced by the importance
of the travel on that route to settle in its vicinity. Those seeking homes in
Iowa as early as 1849 and for some years later, usually started west on some
one of the California roads, and left it at .some point of note, such for in-
stance, at Ft. Des Moines. When such was the case they would naturally
keep near the Des Moines river timber rather than cross the prairie to tiie
Skunk river, or the groves of Story. In this manner we find that Boone
County had a considerable population while Story was yet untouched. Fi-
nally in 185 1 and 1852, the few who had settled the previous year were sur-
prised and delighted to find that they had a prospect for neighbors in great
plenty. The fame of the soil, timber and water of Story County beg^n to
be noised abroad, and many were diverted from the route up the Iowa across
the prairies and creeks, and by the spring of 1854 the population nimibered
about eight hundred. Now it is more than three thousand.

"During this time many excellent and valuable farms have been operated
and cultivated : good and comfortable dwellings erected ; valuable stock in-
troduced and bred ; school houses built and youth taught therein ; a good
court house erected for the use of the courts and county offices ; saw and grist
mills by water and steam power, in various jiarts of the coimty to the niuuber
of not less than fifteen have been erected and put in operation; other things
of like character, tedious to mention, but which the reader's imagination
will supply have been conducted on a similar scale of progression. .All
the>e labors and exjuMises have yielded a highly renumerative return to tiic
laborer and capitalist, where the business has been conducted with even a
moderate share of business capacity : which fact is encouraging others to
emljark in similar eiUerprises.

"Nevada, tiie county seat, and oldest and most pojjulous town in tiie
county, is ])lcasantly situated near tiie center, on an elevated undulating sur-
face, near the head of the West Indian creek timber. It can be seen for
several miles from nearly all directions, and begins to jirescnt cjuite an im-
posing aspect. It was laid out in the fall of 185^ and the lirst house was
erected in January, 1854. lUu little improvement was made until the fall of
1853. when a steam saw mill was erected which furnished the necessary
lumber for the erection of the uiany neat and substantial buildings the town
can now boast. The greater number of these have been erected within the
past year. There are two jiublic s(|uares. a feature rather unusual in west-
ern towns, and this fact, in connection with a partial division of the town
made by a slough which crosses from east to west near the center, gave rise
to some rivalry; but this has given place to a more healthy sentiment of re-
joicing on the part of all that both parts are destined to make a town of
which all may be |)rond. .Arrangements are now making for the building.

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 51

during the next summer, of from seventy-five to a hundred buildings. Prop-
erty is rapidly appreciating in value, and lots offer a good per cent, to capi-
talists. Population about four hundred.

'Towa Center. Cambridge and Xew Philadelphia, are thriving places, at
che respective distances of eight, ten and twelve miles from Nevada. They
each possess the reputation of being business places, for their several neigh-
borhoods have mills, stores, shops, etc. Prairie City, Fairview, New Albany,
Bloomington and Defiance have been more recently laid out. and are
mostly in the future. Some of them may be made very pleasant villages.
.A. colony of Norwegians in the northwestern part of the county is in a very
thriving condition, being composed of industrious settlers. They expect a
considerable addition to their numbers in the coming spring. The county is
accessible by good roads usually well bridged, up the Iowa river via Ma-
rengo, Indiantown, Marshalltown and Marietta; or from Newton and at Des
Moines on the south and southwest. The roads and bridges in all parts
of the county are now or soon will be in good condition. The market for
all kinds of produce is now and has always been too good for the best in-
terest of both buyer and seller. Corn is now (January, 1857,) sold at seven-
ty-five cents per bushel at the farmer's crib ! Other things in proportion.

"The Western Stage company is now considering the advantages of
carrying their through passengers from Iowa City to Ft. Dodge and Sioux
City via Marietta and Nevada to Boonsboro. If this line should be es-
tablished it would at once improve our condition and prospects immensely."

CHAPTER VI.

REMINISCENCES BY COL. SCOTT.

Mention has heretofore been made of the fact tliat to the pains taken at
one time or another by Colonel John .Scott to set down in preservable form
matters concerning the early history of the county which it is desirable now
to know but which otherwise might be unknown now or much more diflficult
to find out about, we are indebted for much that we are in fact able now to
tell concerning early events and conditions. His centennial oration which
was given at Nevada on July 4th, 1876, is a mine of information; but even
more available for our present purijose is a series of articles written by hiu)
in 1888 and especially devoted to an elucidation of pioneer matters in and
about Nevada. To a reproduction and review of these articles the four fol-
lowing chapters are devoted. The matter has been rearranged and edited;
but the substance is as the colonel wrote it and in his words. In the matter,
however, will be found a large number of parenthetical notes. These notes
represent the efforts of the present-day editor to bring down to the i)resent
day allusions which were entirely lucid to the reader of 1888, but which now
are liable to be more or less obscured amid the mists of the intervening
twenty-three years. The colonel's recollections follow, their original title
having l>een : "Olden Times in Story County." —

The old landmarks arc passing away, and so are those who have knowl-
edge of them. Tradition is not always to be relied ujion. and the memory of
man is treacherous. The ease with which men may be honestly mistaken
as to facts is often shown in our courts, where those equally credible differ
in statements made under oath. The incidents here narrated are given from
personal recollection, or as told by others. In some ca.ses they are accord-
ing to a |ireponderance of evidence, and in others from the recollection of a
single w'itness. As they are given more to satisfy curiosity than to establish
im])ortant interests, their grave di.scussion may be indulged without appre-
hension. Something is due to the men and women whose acts are here dis-
cussed. Some of their trials and hardshijjs may be inferred from the facts
here given. They were the pioneers of a civilization which will either curse
or benefit mankind as those who follow may or may not do the duties devolv-
ing on themselves. If those of the present and the future shall address them-
selves to the work ami duties of life with but a share of the courage, per-

52

(til.. .loIIX SCOTT

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 53

severance, cheerfulness and self-abnegation that characterized the advance
giiard, the count}- need not despair. Some of those who participated in these
events are still here. It is a delicate matter to write of these, and of their
individual work. One is open to the suspicion of "fear or favor" in such
a case. Others still live but have homes elsewhere. Some have already
joined the majority, and their resting places in the cemetery are objects of
our pious care. To each and every one of these, to the persons of the living
and to the memories of the dead, we can all afford to give kind and grateful
thought. They have done much towards making possible in the wilderness
happy and comfortable homes in the present, and a hopeful prosperity for all
future time. As time passes they will be remembered more and more with
dutiful thought, regard, gratitude and affection, or be wickedly and ungrate-
fully forgotten. Let each for himself choose in which class he shall be
i'ound.

In the pursuit of such facts as are attempted to be embodied in this story
of the pioneers, it is found that abstracts of title do not show all the owners.
It was a frequent occurrence in transferring title to lots that deeds were
made in which there was no grantee's name inserted. Such deeds duly
acknowledged, were often passed by mere delivery, like the transfer of a
promissory note payable "to bearer." When such a deed came into the
hands of a party who cared to place it on record, it was then necessary to
fill in the name of the last holder as grantee. Thus we are left to tradition
in many cases; and where, as has happened in a few instances, even the
oldest inhabitant fails to remember, or where memories do not agree, the
real facts may be lost, or involved in doubt.

Meantime let the difficulties be accepted as apology if unintentional er-
rors are found. After the lapse of a period more than equal to that of a
whole generation, the difficulty of making a connected, complete and accurate
story of such events is very great. Therefore asking your forbearance and
kindly criticism of these disconnected notes, I proceed as requested to jot
down some.

NEV.-\D,\ IN 1856-8.

In the summer of 1856, I tramped into the village of Nevada. Then as
now, like all western towns, it straggled over more land than it fully oc-
cupied. The residences were mostly on the original plat ; but Wood's, Bur-
ns', and Stewart's additions had already been laid out. Streets were known
rather by the stakes of the surveyor than by any use that was made of them
for convenience of travel. The country was open in all directions and those
who traveled sought the higher grounds and the shortest routes, and the
diagonal, being the most direct, was popular in town and country. Rows of
small business houses, framed of oak and covered with linn siding, partially
marked the north and east sides of the south public square.

Speaking of "squares," will remind all the early settlers of the earnest
contentions that clustered around those open half-blocks called "public

54 HISTORY OF STORY COLXTY

squares." That on the north was subsequently conveyed to the county and is
occupied by the court house; the other is tlie north lialf of the park. Both
are now matters of pride to all good citizens, but then there was much jeal-
ousy and no small amount of bitter rivalry between the partisans of the north
and south sides. Officers for the schools, the township, the road districts,
and even for the county, were supported or opposed as their interests were
supjjosed to be situated north or south of the great "Mason and Dixon's
line." "The Slousj^h" that lies just south of the old town well.

.\t the time of wliich I write this slough was in many places an impas-
sable bog, and was only to be crossed on a small and narrow bridge on Main
(Locust ) street south of the old court house. It was for many years thought
by some tiiat \o make this bog passable on Linn street was beyond the skill
of the civil engineer. What woniler then, that an.xious mothers and prudent
fathers after grave counsels should decide that the jiroper place for the
school house was near the only bridge over this famous Rubicon, and so that
location was chosen, though so limited in e.xtent that a jjortion of the street
had to be vacated in a few years to furnish rixjin for addititinal accommoda-
tions. The competing sites were the lots ju.-t east of Child's (Lough's)
livery barn and the lots on which .Mr. (Mayor) dates' residence now stands.
These were rejected as being severally obno.xious to the partisans of the
slough contest, and tiie lot near tiie old court house, before mentioned, was
accepted as a judicious coni])romi->e. Readers may smile, but these are sober
facts of the ])eriod of 1858 and thereabouts.

There was tlien a log house on the corner occupied by Hon. T. C. McCall
(directly east of the city hall), in which Mr. Romaine lived. There was a
log house on the lot occupied by the Hutchins lU)use (until it burned). Mr.
Alderman's store was then a short distance east of the present site of the
opera block. Rast and north from these buildings were open grounds i>artly
covered by jjonds. The residence of Mr. .\lba llall, senior, was then on what
is now the site of tiie furniture store, ( lielknap block). The "only tirst
class hotel in the city" was ke|)t by John McLain on the corner two blocks
west of .Alderman's ( Patrick's) hardware store. It was a log building with
a shed for a kitchen, and a half-story above filled with beds. It would be
base inj^ratitude were 1 to fail to bear testimony to the capacity of that
humble hostelry for comfort and enjoyment. Nevada has long had more pre-
tentious hotels ; biu 1 venture to assert that i ion. I). O. Finch of Des Moines.
Hon. John A. Hull of Hoone and such other wayfarers of thirty (fifty-five)
years ago as partook of the hospitality of Mrs. McLain will cheerfully bear
witness that they have never had more satisfactory treatment in any Nevatla
public house than they had under the roof that covered the old log building.
It was for more than a year my home, and among the regular boarders then
were Cajjt. 11. 11. Roo<l. now of Mt. X'ernon. Iowa, his brother. Dolph Rood,
a man named I'.ennett, J. C. Lovell, Isaac Walker, Barr Scott, I-'rank Hunt,
Moses Hunt and others. It was often the temporary home of Judge Mac-
Farland, General M. M. Crocker. Mr. Wood (the lawyer whom Macl*"arland

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 55

facetiously christened "Old Timljer"). Judge Williamson and many of the
older citizens of Boone, Jasper. Marshall and Polk counties.

BEGINNINGS OF NEVAD.\.

T. E. Alderman was the first resident of the town, as well as the first
merchant. He erected the first building, which was on the lot now occupied
by Lant Lockwood's home. This was in the autumn of 1853. It was made
of roughly dressed logs, with split boards for a roof. The boards for the
floor were sawed at a mill on Clear creek in Jasper County, and the sash,
doors, etc., were hauled from Keokuk. Esquire Robinson got out and de-
livered the logs for this building, which was 16x20 feet. It served as busi-
ness house and dwelling; and it afforded space for the general store, post
office, parlor, reception room, dining room, kitchen and numerous chambers
for sleeping. Within a few weeks another room of the same size and con-
struction was added on the west side, with a door between them, affording a
partial division of space for public and private uses.

The second building erected was the before-mentioned McLain hotel.
This was built by John McLain early in 1854 and it was, of course, filled
with guests at once. Isaac Walker was one of the first. He made his home
in that house for several years, and meantime improved the farm where he
now lives, the Shugart & Fawcett farm ne.xt east of the Nevada corpora-
tion.

Dr. \'. \\ Adamson was one of the earliest arrivals in 1854 and his
description of his first appearance on what was for several years his stage
of action is worthy of insertion here. The doctor was then about twenty
years of age. five feet five inches in height, weight not much over one hun-
dred pounds, but with heart, soul and courage enough for a man twice his
size. Who remembers the big bull snake he caught on the prairie and
bottled alive and that was long conspicuous in his show window in after
years? The doctor's quaint description of the opening scene was as fol-
lows:

"On the first day of May. 1854, at aljout four o'clock p. m. a two-horse
wagon might have been seen approaching the new town of Nevada, Iowa,
from the southeast. As it drew near it was seen to have two occupants, one
an aged man engaged in driving the team ; the other a young ^sculapius
fresh from medical school and seated upon a large box in which was stored
most of his worldly goods, while he led from the rear of the wagon a sad-
dle horse. This young man. V. V. Adamson, was seeking a home as well
as patients in a new country town. The team was guided to the door of
the only occupied building in town, which was found to be the home of T.
E. Alderman. The house was constructed of logs and was built in the
shape of a capital letter L. The western and smaller portion was used as a
dwelling and hotel ; the eastern room was used as a general store. Mr.
Alderman was merchant, hotel-keeper and postmaster, and when trade was
dull he did not hesitate to do an honest dav's work with his trowel. The

56 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

young man secured board and lodging at the hotel Alderman, while the mer-
chant Alderman furnished office room, allowing the young doctor to display
his meager stock of drugs and medical appliances on a shelf beside some
patent medicines. In payment for this privilege and that he might sooner
become acquainted with those who came to trade with the merchant he
was to assist in dispensing prints, teas, cofTee and soaps ; but being a stran-
ger it was necessary to show up assets before engaging board. All things
being listed, the schedule was as follows : one horse, saddle and bridle, a
small lot of drugs, a smaller medical library, and nine dollars and ten
cents in cash. The nine dollars were paid in advance for board and the ten
cents expended for smoking tobacco. .'\s there was no stable, at night the
horse was tied to a post, while during the day his halter-strap was made
fast to an empty dry goods box. This box he drew after him as he wan-
dered over the site of the 'future great,' cropping the tender grasses as he
went. The young man sat down to wait for [)atients. These did not put
in an appearance until the September following. The waiting was weari-
some and would liave been more so but that the town was coming into
notice. Settlers began to come in and houses began going up over tlie
town-site. It is true they were of a primitive character; but they housed
men and women that were not rmly true to themselves but also to each
other."

Alx)ut the same time Capt. George Child arrived. He built for a resi-
dence the house now owned by Mr. Warrick and on lots adjoining Mc-
Lain's hotel on the south (the Christian church lots). Mr. Child also set
about building a frame house to be used for mercantile purposes. This was
located just cast of the present opera block and faced south. An > tensive
and valuable line of goods was opened in this building within a few months
by Mr. Child and his brother-in-law, S. S. Webb. These goods were hauled
by ox-teams from Daxenpnrt and Rock Island. .X portion of the lumber for
the Child iS: Webb tniilding was drawn from a sawmill on Four Mile creek in
Polk County, and the remainder from Webb's mill near Iowa Center. The
sheeting on Qiild's resitlencc. the Warrick house, was hauled from the saw-
mill on I'our Mile and is good black walnut lumber. The floor of this
house was from the first logs sawed in the Josiah Chandler mill just north
of the bridge over the channel at Cambridge. George went after it on
Sunflay, crossing Skunk at the old bridge a mile below Cambridge, and got
it as far that day as a slough west of Tom Hemstock's farm, where he left
it for the night. Next day he brought the precious white-oak hoards to
their destination. There was no road, not even a track, and oxen made the
only practicable teams for such work. Meantime a stranger had em-
ployed Mr. .'\lderman to erect a business house on the corner east of the
Child & Webb building; but the man failed to appear and occupy it. In
fact he never reported, nor was heard from by those interested.

Before this building was finished, even before it was "chinked and
daubed," the first district court for Story County was held within its walls.

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 57

At this time there were but two famihes permanently settled under their
own roofs in the town, those of Mr. Alderman and of Mr. John McLain.
The latter kept the hotel. During one night of the term of court it rained
heavily and Mrs. Alderman was compelled to open her doors and give
shelter to as many as could lie side by side on the floor of her house. They
piled in as close as sardines in a box, not having room to pull on their
boots in the morning until someone had vacated the apartment. The tem-
porary court house was removed within a few months by a man named
Harris, one of the early merchants, to a site directly west of the northwest
corner of the park, and afterwards formed a part of the old Helphrey
house, a tavern known to some as "The Terrific."

During the fall of 1854 a tailor named Hockley built a cabin just south
of Will Moran's (P. E. Shugart's) residence, which latter is on the site of
Judge Evans' home of thirty (fifty-five) years ago. Other families which
came in about this time were those of T. J. Adamson and Isaac Romaine.
The former built on the site now occupied as a home by Dr. Charles Hoag,
(the Geo. Robinson lots), while the latter took the corner, where the Hon.
T. C. AlcCall now lives (east of city hall). Dr. V. V. Adamson, who
was the first physician, had come in the spring of 1854 and still boarded
with Mr. Alderman. Mr. Romaine's family also housed with Mr. Alder-
man while his, Romaine's, house was building. This was during November
and December, 1854. Mrs. Romaine gave birth to a child during this
period, and one of Mrs. Alderman's children died. This was the first death
within the limits of the town, being the daughter named Nevada, who was
also the first child born here. The second death was that of the infant
born to Mrs. Romaine, while the third was that of an infant of Mrs. George
Child. During a portion of this same fall in addition to the cares, labors
and casualties mentioned, Mrs. Alderman in her limited and crowded space
nursed four patients sick with typhoid fever, all being down at the same
time. Old man Helphrey built a story and a half hewed log house south of
the Slough, to which the unused business building before mentioned was
added and which was known as the "Helphrey House." The house at first
did a good business, in fact, was crowded until the proprietor conceived
the idea that buying second class food for his tables, his boarders would not
eat so much, his grocery bills would be less, while his profits would be larger.
The result was that he drove the most of his boarders away from his house,
and he was finally compelled to close his hotel.

T. J. Adamson erected the second frame building in the town. It was
a small store room erected south of the Slough on what was then known as
"the south square." The building was on the northeast corner and faced
south. This lot is the home of Mrs. Gillespie (J. F. Gillespie).

BUILDING THE TOWN.

The year 1855 witnessed a notable increase in the population of the vil-
lages and house building in the same ratio. A. C. Bamum built a log cabin

58 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

on the nortlnvest corner of the lots now occupied (until her death) by
Mrs. Sarah Boynton. This house was set near the alley where the stables
now stand, while in front of it and extending into the street toward Mc-
Lain's hotel was a nice pond on which the wind raised waves till the white-
caps covered the shore with froth. Mrs. Banium died in tliis cabin in the
spring of 1856. During this year and early in 1856 David Child, E. G. Day,
J. W. Cessna, Wilson Daily. Mr. Compton, Dr. Kellogg, Mr. Jonathan
Statler. James D. l-'emer, Russell and Frank .McLain, Tom Larcuni, Thos.
Westlake. Israel and George Helphrey. James Moore. J. C. Lovell. .Austin
Prouty. Judge Evans, Ellis Armstrong, John J. Bell, .\bner Lewis,
James Hawthorn and others were added to the population of the town.

Mr. Compton built a hou.se on the lot (the Geo. M. Barnes' lot) north
of Mrs. Letson's (Mrs. W'aldron's) place, and afterwards built on the
Letson (Waldron) lots. A Mr. Wilson built the Mrs. Brigham ])lace. Judge
Evans built where William Moran ( P. F. Shugart ) lives. .A house for Mr.
Barndollar was built just north of Mr. H. Boynton's (F. A. McLain's)
place, in which Mr. Statler lived while building his place on the corner
south of Ross Wakeman's ])lace ; and Dr. Kellogg had lived in the Barn-
ddllar house before building where Theodore W'orsley now lives, (O. B.
.Mdcrnian i)ro]:>erty, south of 1". A. McLain's). The old IJarndollar house
is now Mr. Boynton's stal)lc. J. 1). i"erncr built the Wakcmaii house.
Russell McLain built where Mr. Earl now lives (east side of Addison lots).
James Moore on the south side of Mr. (iillespie's lots (Mrs. Nancy X.
Robinson's home lot). .Austin Prouty where Mr. Ringheim (E. A. Faw-
cett ) now lives, John J. Bell on the corner northeast of the park. .Vbner
Lewis next, (the Addison corner) south of Austin Prouty. James Haw-
thorn, where he (his son Isaac) now resides. David Child's first residence
in Nevada was on the site now occujiied by S. E. Briggs" ( Sani'l White's)
residence. S. S. Webb lived on the Waldron corner. Bob 1 lockley lived
in the house recently torn d<)wn on the site of the new (and the much
newer) .-Xdventist church. Ed. Sciioonover afterwards lived in the same
house. R. D. Coldren built and occupied the house now (and still) owned
by Mrs. Dr. Cook, .\dolphus Reed built and occupied the house north of
George Child's present (old time) residence. Mr. Stoncking built and sold
to Abner Bell the Fitch])atrick dwelling, (not including the square upright).
William Aldredge built the house now owned by John Storm, (Dr. Jeffrey).
.Mrs. Kellogg built the house (O. I. Spencer's) west of her jirescnt home,
and her husband had previously built and died where Theodore Worsley
lives, (on O. B. Alderman lots). bVank McLain and his sister. Mrs. Lar-
cum, lived in the house next south of Dr. Kellogg (the Handsaker comer).
Ellis Armstrong kept a store in the building that is (since) now part of his
stable when it stood facing the east side of the park. His residence was in
the same locality and was the first house erected on the east side of the
park. It consisted of a square log building which afterwards had a front
of boards added with large windows. Major Hawthorn was at work on

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 59

Ph-

tliis building when he was told that a bolt of lightning had killed his daugli
ter and also a daughter of Henry Bailey in the house that stood east of the
Gallup residence. Fortunately Miss jane Hawthorn, afterwards Mrs. Gar-
rett, by prompt measures for restoration was saved ; but the other reported
death was a sad fact.

When T. J. Adamson built the house recently torn down to give place
to Dr. C. E. Hoag's (Geo. Robinson's) new residence, lie had the largest
and most pretentious home in the town. John J. Bell Iniilt a hotel on the
M. M. Ross (Mrs. Lowrey's) corner. This was looked upon at the time
as a valuable addition to the town. It was afterwards removed by Mr.
Welton to the site of the Hutchins House and sold to and remodeled by
Mr. Waring. Judge Mitchell's first residence, built by himself, was the
house (the Finch property) immediately north of the west end of the
lots he now occupies (Mrs. Mitchell). C. D. Berry built the house long
occupied by J. C. Mitchell, but now by Mr. Lyman (Frank Pouge). W.
E. McNight built for his residence a part of the Vincent house and after-
wards added to it for hotel purposes ( \'incent lot north of the garages).
John L. Dana built his present (long time) residence in 1856, and Mr. Bils-
land built the house on the west side of the street in 1837. Mr. Alderman,
in 1856, built the house now occupied by Treasurer Mills (south of the
Mills home) and lived in it until he changed to his present home (home-
stead corner of Oak and Second avenue south). When Levi Schoonover
built on the site of Mrs. Bates' place (south of M. C. Allen's), a block east
of Mr. Hall's (the Belknap corner, and beyond the ponds, it was regarded
as quite out in the country. The present (late) residence of Mr. Purkhiser
was built by J. P. Robinson, the old "Squire," on lots that are now a part
of the south half of the park, and removed first to lots west of the north-
west corner of the park, where they served for a store building, and sub-
sequently to the present site. The first building on the Homer Boardman
(Dr. Smith) lots was a carpenter shop occupied at difi^erent times by J.
M. Tanner, W. K. Smith, Chas. Schoonover, Nelson Cox and others. David
Child removed this building to his farm. Another building was afterwards
erected on the same lots and was used as a furniture shop and store.
It was occupied as such by John l!arr. Thomas C. Davis added to this
building and occupied the place as a residence while he was county treasurer.
^\^ S. Garrett lived when first married in the Ross Wakeman house and
afterwards in a part of the first house built by Alderman. At this time
and previously a part of this old house had been occupied by Isaac Evans,
a brother of the judge. In 1857 William Margeson built the place now
owned by Mr. Peck on Scott's addition. In this house I passed the winter
of 1858-9. It then stood on blocks and comprised only the two front rooms.
About this time John Hail built the Mrs. Butt place (on the Frank McKim
corner and recently removed to outlots, south of Wood's addition), and
John Hammond built the Beatty place (not the Beatty homestead, but
in the same block on Pine street). Cottonwoods were planted on both

60 HISTORY OF STORY COUXTY

places, but several of them have been cut down. John Stephens built the
same year. In 1859 I built on the lots I now occupj' (the Patrick home)
and planted the first trees the following spring. I brought some apple
trees from the James Smith nursery near Des Moines, which were planted
east of my house. The only a])ple tree of that planting still living is the
old tree near tlie culvert on Linn street on the place (once) now occupied
by Dr. Smith. It was set there in compliment to the printer, Mr. Thrall,
who then lived there. The soft maples on my place and those on Mrs.
Stephens' place came from the grove planted by Milton Evans in Milford
Township. I got the sugar maples nortli of Ontario and picked up many
varieties of trees in the neighboring groves. The large golden willow is
from a cutting taken from the old tree that stood on the east end of Mrs.
Letson's place and which was cut down by Mr. Letson.

The first winter Judge Mitchell passed in Nevada, that of 1856-7, he
lived in a small office north of the west end of the court house lots, after-
wards long occupied by Jimmy Green. He thinks Jimmy lived at that time
in the cabin south of the Judge Evans house, now Moran's (Shugart's).
Joe Tanner wintered in the log cabin originally built by George Helphrey
for a smitlishop, opposite Mrs. Butt's place (McKim's), but at the time
mentioned standing near where Henry Mcintosh now lives. Helphrey had
moved it to this point and had occupied it as a smithy. It is said also that
Helphrey built the old shop on Mrs. Sanders' lot just north of Mrs. Let-
son's home (Mrs. Waldron's) and sold the place to Wilson Daily, this being
Daily's first residence and shop, in 1855. Daily built a residence within
a year or two on the lots (the tennis court) facing west in front of the
old Alderman residence (south of) where Mr. Mills now lives, and which
was rebuilt and extended by Henry Boynton, who sold it to Otis Briggs.
Moses Hunt built the Jolin R. Hays house (Mrs. Clara McCall's lot) and
presumably planted the old cottonwoods about the time he and Mrs. Larcum
were married. Mr. Hunt aftcrwartis built and lived on the A. K. Banks
(Mrs. Confare's) place. Mr. Rhoads in 1857 built on the lots now occupied
by Mr. Gretsinger. In this dwelling his daughter, the widely-known Mrs.
Laura A. Berry, and his sons. Jut Rhoads of Jefferson, Iowa (later of Col-
orado), and Halsey Rhoads of Colorado, passed a number of their earlier
years. Both boys learned the i)rinting business with Mr. Thrall. A. D.
Shaw, an attorney and jjrairie breaker, came with two brotliers late in the
fall of 1856. One of thetn wintered in a shanty just east of the McGloflin
residence (west of McCutchin's), the other in the cabin house of Cal-
houn's house. J. H. Talbott built a two-story business house on the cor-
ner now (and still) occupied as a residence by the VV. P. Payne family.
Major Hawthorn sold goods therein for several years. This building is
now near the old McHose brick-yard (south of the Short Line).

ISAAC S. FREXCH, CUUJ.
A Resident of Stnrv County for Sixty Years

CHAPTER VII.
REMINISCENCES BY COL. SCOTT— (CONTINUED).

MORE EARLY BUILDINGS.

In the latter part of 1855 Mr. Harris occupied the "Old Terrific" prop-
erty west of the park, sold goods there and kept the postoffice. In 1855
T. J. Adamson built a store room on the corner facing the park now oc-
cupied as a residence by Mrs. Gillespie (J. F. Gillespie). On the corner
across the street (the Addison corner) were the office and residence of
John J. Bell, school fund commissioner. This is the place now occupied by
Mr. Billings as a residence, and it is sometimes called "the Rodearmel cor-
ner." It has been the site of drug stores, jewelry shops and postoffices
and was at one time the best business location in the town. It was on
this corner that the genial Date Ballard kept a dnig-store at one time and
liquors for sale under a law restricting the purchase to medicinal, mechanical
and culinary purposes. A customer entered and in apparent urgency called
for a pint of whiskey "to be used on a horse's back." The obliging drug-
gist filled the order in haste and was struck dumb by seeing the man, who
was so intent on being merciful to his beast, climb into the saddle and pour
the contents of the bottle down his own miserable throat.

There was a small log house directly south of Helphrey's near the
alley, built and occupied by Mr. Fitch on the west half of the lots now
owned by Mrs. Bailey. This old building was removed to the east end of
Mr. Beatty's lot by Mr. Hammond when he built on and occupied the
Beatty lot. Mr. Fitch lived there until he improved the farm now owned
by Sutherland. Charlie Schoonover afterwards built on the site from which
the old house was removed. This latter building was recently torn down
by Mrs. Bailey. The house next south of Mr. Ballou's place (now the
rear part of the Dr. Jeffrey house) dates back to 1855 or early in 1856 and
was built by Allen Bell and afterwards occupied by his brother Abner.
It was for some years occupied as a Methodist parsonage in the early days
before the church building (the old church) was erected.

The south building facing to the west on the Bishop lots was built
in 1855 by Mr. Moore, father of Mrs. Ellis Armstrong, and was occupied
by the old people and their daughter, Mrs. Chenowith, and her son.
Israel Helphrey, the elder, father of George and other sons, built in 1855 a

61

Vol. 1—5

62 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

log house on the Hansell property now occiipieil by Mrs. Xeasliam (on the
corner north of the Armstrong liomestead). Andrew Bales built the iiouse
where Mr. Edgecomb lives, while his father built a house where Post-
master Fenn lives, both in 1S55. James Green, affectionately called "Uncle
Jimmy" by all the town, lived in a small frame house that stood on the east
end of Mrs. Kellogg's lot. being near the old court house. This was after-
wards removed to fact the street next west and stood on the lot north of Mrs.
Kellogg's and was still occupied by Mr. Green. Near he dug a well which
may still be seen and which during the recent dry years afforded water for
half a dozen of the neighboring families. .A frame building two stories
high had been erected on the north end of the east half of the block
on which William Moran (P. E. Shugart ) now lives for the courts and the
county offices. It burned down in the early morning hours of January i,
1864. The building recently torn down on the corner west of the 0])era
block was built on the foundation of the burned building and sold when tiie
present court house was built.

The previously narrated incidents are believed to have occurred some-
what in the order named, except as dates given indicate the contrary. As
improvements and changes became more numerous in the latter part of
1855 and 1856 reliance on mere memory is not very safe. Neither are sub-
sequent matters of so much interest. Many changes took place. Some
people remained but a short time, leaving for pastures still fresher in the
yet more wild and woolly west, or returned whence they came to await de-
velo|)ments. Some who came preferred to purchase improvements al-
ready made, while others were always willing to sell. It is neither easy nor
necessary to note with exactness all these changes.

T. E. Alderman bought out Child i^: Webb in 1856 and occupied tlieir
building. He afterwards built the double business house, frame two
stories high, about where the east end of the opera block is at this writing.
This building was meant to eclipse the "New York Store" with the .\evada
Hall above it, now used by the Boardman Bros, for storage and shops, but
then recently built by T. J. Adamson on the corner where Mrs. Robert
Robison now lives (the \inje resilience corner). .\t the same time there
was erected on the adjacent lots to the south the one-story building recently
remodeled by Mrs. Robison. This contained tlie original "Star Drug Stt)re"
and a shoe shop. Mr. Alderman's liouble house was occujiicd by him for
hardware and a tinner's shop.

A number of smaller buildings were erected on the north and west of
the south sc|uare about this time for shops and offices. .Among these was
a law office by .Mr. l-Vazier.

CHANGE.S .\nOUT NF.VAO.V.

Probably more removals of buildings have taken place in Nevada than
in most towns of its age. In this way the identity of imjirovements made

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 63

in the early days is sometimes lost. Some of the original log houses were
torn down and rebuilt on other lots or removed to the country.

One of the original Alderman houses on the Lant Lockwood place
(southwest corner of court house block) was removed by Mr. Cessna to
his farm about two miles north of town, where it still does duty in an
humble capacity. The Mrs. Hosford log house that stood a short distance
west of Mr. Warrick's stable forms a part of the house next north of E. S.
Bamberger's place. William Gates' blacksmith shop (now superseded by
a brick structure) is the building used for the same business by Mr.
Switzer, then located where Jud Ray (Ed. Statler) now lives. The old
Talbott store building, erected on the corner of W. P. Payne's residence
lot, was removed to the White & Bamberger corner and occupied by O.
Hambleton, and when that site was needed for a brick block it was re-
moved to a lot near the south side of Wood's addition. The National
Hotel, erected on the M. M. Ross corner, was removed to the site of the
Hutchins House and was rebuilt and enlarged after the removal. The
New York Store, with the Nevada Hall in the second story, originally
built on the Mrs. Robert Robison (Vinje) corner, was moved to a site
just north of the Boardman Bros.' block and recently to the lot east of
Earl's (Apple's) livery barn (where it still stands). Earl's barn was or-
iginally built for use by the National Hotel on the west end of the same
lot, the M. M. Ross (Mrs. Lowrey) residence lot, and removed to its
present site near the town well. The log building that first occupied the
site of the Hutchins House was built by E. G. Day. It was for a time oc-
cupied as a school room and for church and Sunday school purposes.
Randolph Goodin and Mrs. Berintha Mitchell taught in that building. Mr.
Cessna bought the place from Mr. Day and lived there, at times accom-
modating a few boarders. Wm. Lockridge boarded there for a consider-
able time. It was afterwards occupied by Nathan Price and family. Mr.
John Goodin, father of Mrs. Day, attended a sale of lots previously adver-
tised and bought this lot. He made Mrs. Day a present of the lot. One
of the incidents of that sale was long remembered by Mr. Goodin. It was
his experience in passing a whole night seated on a nail keg, tliere being no
room for him elsewhere.

The corner now occupied by the Ringheim block (recently purchased
by the -Masonic order) was first occupied by Dr. J. H. Sinclair's frame
store building, which was temporarily set in the street until the new brick
block could be gotten ready for occupancy. It was then removed to Mr.
Ringheim's residence block, where it was used by the Lutherans for a
house of worship until their present church was erected. On the present
site of the Boardman Bros. (Swift & Co.) brick block there were formerly
several small frame buildings, some of them occupied by families and some
as meat shops and grocers' shops. The late Sam Roe was one of the best
remembered residents of that locality. Mr. David Child and [onas Bechtel
had meat-shops there. There was a small frame residence on the lots now

64 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

occupied by the Boardman Block in which E. G. Day lived for a number of
years. It was taken away to make room for the present business. About
1858 there were two frame one-story residences built on the lots now oc-
cupied by Mrs. Murphey and Mr. Fegtly (the Murphey and Fegtly home-
steads). They fronted to the east. Mr. Murphey removed one of these
houses to the corner and afterwards added a second story, (his has this
spring, 191 1, been moved to the rear of the lot for a barn by Lafe McKim
with a view to building on the corner). The other was occupied at dif-
ferent times as a residence by E. G. Day, John Dowling, Smith Goodin. It
was burned when occupied by Goodin. James Fairman built the first
house on the lots now owned and occupied by Mr. Gates. This was re-
moved to the south end of town. S. S. Webb built a residence on the
corner now occupied by the i'atton (Dillin) block. This frame building
was removed and is owned and occupied by M. C. .-Mien (now a tenant
house on north end of Allen lots). J. W. Cessna built the residence property
now occupied by the parish priest of the Catholic church. George A. Kellogg
built the residence now owned and occupied by Mrs. Major Hix. Asa
Copoc built the first residence on the Frank Ogden comer (Greenawalt)
which has been enlarged and improved, removed and succeeded by a better
house. S. S. Webb built his first residence on what is known as the W'aldron
corner, now owned by S. E. Briggs estate. It was for a time the residence
of T. C. McCall. Mr. Waldron removed the building and added thereto,
and it is now the residence of Mr. .Ambrose (since removed to the lots south
of the water tank). O. Hambleton first built on the lots now occupied as a
residence by Mr. Wingert (the garages). George \V. Hambleton built and
long resided on the corner now occupied for business on Linn street by
Lyman & Co., W. T. Hand, Ed. Statler and others. This house is now two
blocks west on Chestnut street. The residence of .-\lba Hall, senior, before
mentioned (on the Belknap corner) was near the corner now occupied by the
furniture store of Mr. Borgen. and was a commodious residence for its
times. It was built by George Child for Mr. Hall. It was burned while oc-
cupied as a residence by Rev. S. J. Mills.

The widening of Linn street between Snyder's shop ami the Lyman
corner, and several blocks further, which was done by setting the houses
then on the west side of the street twenty feet back from the original front
line, was a notable improvement and did much to encourage permanent
building. This was done about 1870 and was at the expense of those oc-
cupying both sides of the street. (The editor's understanding is that the
property owners on the west side gave the twenty feet, while those on the
east side paid the exjiense of moving the buildings.) The building facing
Dr. Munk's residence on the west side of Linn street (the A. C. Elliot
house) was built al)out 1872 by a stock company for a cheese factory. The
present residence of Dr. Chamberlin was built by Mr. J. B. Mel lose, the
brick maker, now of Boone. It was afterwards owned by Dr. Farrar and
by Dr. Smith. Chas. Schoonover built the house next south of Dr. C. E.

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 65

Hoag's residence. It was sold by him to W. G. Allen, who occupied it for
a number of years. Hon. E. B. Potter also owned it and occupied it for
many years.

J. S. Frazier built on and occupied the D. S. Snyder corner, at south-
east corner of court house block, as a residence and office until he removed
to his place west of the creek, (now the Abbott place). Hon. George A.
Kellogg built and occupied the house now owned and occupied by Lant
Lockwood, on the original Alderman site on southwest corner of court
house block. J. G. Tanner built and occupied the first house west of the
lower bridge on the south side of the street. He sold to Mr. Z. Shugart.
( This is now the L. A. Hanson property). E. G. Day built and lived in the
house now owned by John Waldron. Rev. Mr. Beckley built the house
next west of Mr. Waldron (on the feed shed corner), and lived there till
he removed to Wisconsin. Adolphus Rood built the house next north of
the George Child residence and lived there for a number of years. George
Helphrey built the first house on the corner now owned by E. S. Bamber-
ger. He sold to Mr. B. J. Dunning, who enlarged it and lived there for
many years. Mr. Dunning sold to Mr. Bamberger, who sold the building
to Mrs. Neasham for removal to lots facing the east side of the park, to
make room for his contemplated residence. (Later it was removed to
the east side of the same block to make room for the Minkler residence).
Chas. D. Berry built the house long owned and occupied by J. C. Mitchell
as a residence, now owned by Mr. Lyman, (Frank Poage).

W. E. Knight built the north hotel, afterwards known as the Vincent
House, (and Central House, now removed). Tobias Kindlespire built the
residence now occupied by Ab. Elliot (John H. Apple) as a residence.
Mr. Callahan built on the skating-rink corner the two story shop recently
removed to the block next south of the foundry lots by Thomas Pool. S.
H. Templeton built and resided in the Pierce property in the north part
of town. M. C. Allen built the house now owned and occupied by A. M.
Norris (H. G. Ambrose). It was for a time owned and occupied by Dr.
Schooler. Mr. Edwards, the merchant, built and lived in the house now
occupied by W. F. Swayze (Arthur Dean). Moses Hunt built the house
afterwards long occupied by John R. Hays (on the Clara McCall corner),
and also the original house enlarged and improved by Am. Banks. J. H.
Talbott built for a residence the place now owned and occupied by Solo-
mon Young, (L. H. Padellford), also for a vinegar factory the brick on the
corner next north. Andrew Bales built the Edgecomb log house up to
"the square" and sold it in that condition to Henry Bailey. The latter
put the roof on and occupied it with his family. He was at work on the
house when the storm came up in which his daughter was killed by light-
ning.

There was at one time, about 1863. a considerable business done near the
site of the county jail (the Judge Dyer residence property). O. & G. W.
Hambleton had a general store in that locality. David Child's first meat

66 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

shop was in the same row. The first house that was built on the lots now
occupieil by Mrs. Jackson in Wood's addition was sold to Wm. Lockridge,
who removed it to his farm south of town, now owned by J. S. Hutchins.
The house next south of John Storm's (B. S. Dickey's) place was built for
Simon Moore in 1855 by J. P. Robinson. It may be mentioned that
Squire Robinson furnished the logs for a large number of houses built
in Xevada during the early days. One of the old landmarks which has
been so long removed as to have been almost forgotten is the house that
was built by Mr. Hackley on the lots of Mr. Storm. It was a long one-
story house with two doors on its north front. Mr. Hackley lived in it
until he moved from town. It was afterward owned and occupied by John
Parker. In war-times one part of this house was occupied by Mr. E. S.
Hoag and the other by the family of Cornelius Joor. When this property,
with that of W. E. Aldredge, was bought by DeWitt C. Bishop the Hackley
house was moved to its place and faced west as it now stands. Part of the
old Hackley house was placed on the rear of the lots now occupied by Dr.
C. E. Hoag (George Robison) and used as a stable: but it went to pieces
and has disappeared.

J. C. Lovell built a residence on the site of Boyd's (Tarman's) meat
market in the fall of 1S56. This house was prudently set upon blocks and
the door was reached by a short flight of steps. During a part of his resi-
dence there he found some of the conveniences afforded in \'enice —
among others the opportunity of reaching his door by a boat. He was
known to boast of the convenience of filling his tea kettle from the door
step.

John Mcl.ain built for a residence the present home of W. S. Garrett
(the Garrett homestead). Joini I-llliot built the residence now occupied
by Mrs. Bates (south of M. C. .Mien's). It stands on the site of the first
house built in that part of town by Levi Schoonover. Smith Goodin built
the house now owned and occupied by Samuel l)ates as a residence (oj)-
posite M. E. church). This lot at one time belonged to the ladies of the
Methodist clnircli, and it was expected that a parsonage woidd be built
thereon.

Among the changes it may be mentioned that a .Mr. I lart. a wagon-maker,
who had been in business in .Ames, removed his dwelling and shop in parts
from that town to Xevada alx)ut 1867. The dwelling comprises the pres-
ent wing of the Methodist parsonage (Mrs. Margaret White's homestead),
and the shoj) is the building that stands against the east end of the White
&; Bamberger block (removed for the Gates blacksmith shop).

George Child's residence was the first house on the block where it now
stands. W'hcn first built it fronted south but it was afterwards enlarged
and changed to its present form. On the east half of that block, now oc-
cupied by the homes of the brothers Shedd (McCall. Bishop, Neasham and
Shuttlcworth ) Rev. Stewart, a Presbyterian missionary, in an early day
built a small house, in which be lived. It was occupied during the war

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 67

period by the family of Walter Brown, later by Jonathan Meyers, Cor-
poral S. A. Daniel, and Mr. Waring.

When Russell McLain came to the county he built a house three miles
southeast of Nevada on the site of H. H. Robinson's home. John Mc-
Lain's family lived in the same house while the hotel was in process of
building.

To put up these rude log houses was not so easy as at first thought might
be supposed. The old time house raising made necessary the attendance
of all able-bodied men from every direction within reasonable hail. The
settlers on Skunk river, as well as those on East Indian creek, gave generous
help to the pioneers of the new county-seat.

A comparison of the present with the past may illustrate the progress of
thirty-two years (1856-1888) in the history of the town. Now there are
very few more nicely graded and drained streets in any unpaved town than
is Linn street in Nevada from the railway station to the south side of the
park. It is smooth, dry, tiled, of grade and easily kept in repair. In 1856
it was several feet higher than it is now at the Vincent House, in front
of the court house, and in front of Mr. E. S. Hoag's place (opposite Ad-
ventist headquarters). It was much lower from Mr. Lyman's (Hand's)
corner to the Farmers' Bank and from the Boardman (Swift) block to
Dr. Munk's. Between the latter points the sod had not been broken, and
a fence-board could have been set down in the quivering peat bog without
touching bottom. From the site of the office of the Representative (over
Aliss Rankin's millinery store) to the Methodist church lot and north to
Leffingwell's blacksmith shop (on public library lots) and most of the
way to the next street on tlie north there were depressions which in wet
seasons were ponds of considerable depth. The surface outlet to these
ponds passed in the rear of the opera block, thence near Mrs. Burdick's
(Mrs. Dillin's) residence, thence across the George Hutchins (the Presby-
terian church) lots and across where Mrs. Kellogg's garden is now. In the
street west of Mrs. Kellogg's it was joined by a depression that drained
some lots to the north. Thence there was and is a natural depression to
the great Slough. In the wet season of 1858 all these ponds were so as to
afford a boating place for the boys, and a steady stream flowed from them
for -many days in succession. Mr. Alba Hall, senior, had connected his
cellar with the nearest low grounds by a covered drain. During the long
continued rains the ponds filled, and it is said that Mr. Hall found living
fish in his cellar.

THE E.XRLY SCHOOLS.

Pupils of our present graded school, as well as their parents, ought to
know something of the school system of Nevada in its infancy. Such
knowledge may assist them to a reasonable appreciation of our present
school facilities. The property of the town has paid in thirty-five years
for school purposes not less than fifty per cent of its present appraised

68 TTTSTORY OF STORY COUXTY

value. This enormous amount has been from time to time cheerfully voted
and not grudgingly paid. In return for all this, we now have a system,
buildings and corps of teachers in all of which we have much pride. In
the meantime, many promising young men and women have gone out from
our schools, who are and will be citizens of great value wherever their lots
may be cast.

THE FIRST TEACHER.

Was William Margeson. He taught in the winter of 1854-5. in a log
house that stood near where Mr. Calhoun now lives, south of the J. S.
Frazier property. The school district was not then organized, and he was
paid by subscription. In the summer of 1855, a school wa^ taught for one
term by a man whose person is well remembered, but whose name in not
now recalled. (Asa Griffith, son of a preacher near Rloomington.) The
school was in the house where Margeson taught during the jirevious win-
ter, and the teacher boarded with Dr. Kellogg's family. He was a quiet,
gentlemanly man, rather disposed to avoid the loiterers on the streets, and
is remembered by only a few whom he met. Probably the third school was
taught, for a short term, in the log house on tlie Hutchins Hotel corner by
Randolph Goodin in 1855. This building was used alternately for schools
and residence for several years. There was a school in it when Mr. Cessna
moved into it. atid afterwards when Mr. Price moved in.

Society and society customs were in a crude state at this time. Accus-
tomed as we now are, to have the school Ijoard employ a corps of ten teach-
ers to carry on our excellent schools, with a janitor to look after the tine
school building, heated by steam in winter, nicely ventilated in summer,
with commodious grounds, we are liable to forget that it was not always
thus. At the time of which we write the public funds were only sufficient
to employ one or two teachers for a portion of the year. During the remain-
der of the available period, it was customary for such women as had the am-
bition to do such work and the room to spare in their dwellings, to open
select schools in their homes. It was the rule in such cases for the family
to crowd into the rear rooms and liave the schools in the front. Mrs.
Berintha M. Mitchell, wife of R. H. Mitchell, taught a term in the spring
of 1856 in the building in which Mr. Goodin had taught previously. Mrs.
Vashti Lewis, wife of Abner Lewis, taught during the summer of that year
in her house, which stood north of the present residence of Mrs. M. M.
Ross (north of Mrs. Lowrey's). John Snelling taught a term in the new
court house during the fall of the same year. J. W. Cessna and Vincent
Tomlinson taught in the court house during the following summer. In the
summer of 1857, S. E. Briggs taught in the Webb & Child .store building,
which stood east of the opera block. Mrs. Norris, wife of the county sur-
veyor, taught in the Hackley house on the corner where Mr. Storm now
lives, (the B. S. Dickey place) in the spring of 1857. She afterwards taught
in the old building that then stood near John Stone's present (late) residence

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 69

and was assisted by her daughter, Miss Henrietta. The latter terms were in
1858. J. S. Blickenderfer taught in the court house during the early part of
1857. Mrs. B. M. Mitchell taught a select school in her newly erected and yet
unfinished home in the fall of 1857. She was assisted temporarily by Miss
Maggie Stephens. The building stands yet, just north of the west end of
the place now occupied by Judge Mitchell. During the ensuing winter R.
H. Mitchell and wife taught the district school in the court house. In the
summer of 1858, Miss VanWormer taught. In the same year Mrs. Shaw,
wife of either A. D. or P. H., taught in the Abner Lewis property, above
named. In the winter of 1858-9, R. C. McOmber, assisted by Laura A.
Rhoades, had the schools in charge. The term was begun in the upper room
of the .Alderman block, east end of the opera block ; but it was found neces-
sary to divide the school and Miss Laura was given a portion of the pupils
in the court room. The McOmber school was so popular as to attract a
number of scholars from the country, notwithstanding the building and
the appointments were not at all suited to school purposes. Colonel H. H.
Rood of Mt. Vernon, who attended Mr. McOmber's school, gives his
teacher words of praise that should rise as incense over his grave. He says
that Mr. McOmber was a graduate of a college in Vermont and had not
only a superior education, but also the faculty of interesting his pupils in
their studies, and imbuing them with a determination to be wiser and better
men and women. Among the pupils were Jason D. Ferguson, Harry Boyes,
Addison Davis and others from the country.

During the summer of 1859 the school was taught by Miss Kate C.
Woods, from Kenton, Ohio, and Miss Edna M. Riston, recently from St.
Lawrence county, New York. This term was begun in the Cumberland
Presbyterian church, which stood on the lots east of Mr. Gates' place. For
about four weeks both teachers worked together in the church, when it
was found necessary to divide the school. In this emergency Miss Woods
took half the school to the Alderman block. This division was not made
on grades but without any regard to scholarship.

THE OLD BRICK SCHOOL HOUSE.

Was built in the summer of 1859, on the lots east of the old court house.
It was ready for occupancy in time for the winter term of 1859-60. Dr.
Fuller of Hardin county, an educator of reputation, was employed as prin-
cipal, and Miss May E. Moore as assistant. Dr. Fuller and Miss Moore
were married before the close of the term.

For the summer term of i860, by request of David Child, the local
director, a popular election was held for teachers and resulted in the choice
of Miss Kate C. Woods and Mrs. Gossard. A fall term was taught in
i860 by Miss Edna M. Riston as principal, and Miss Abbie Price as assist-
ant. The winter term for 1860-1, was taught by R. H. Mitchell, assisted
by Mrs. Brigham, George Brigham's mother.

70 IIISTURV U1-" STORY COUNTY

There seems to be some uncertainty as to the order in which certain
teachers had charge of the schools during the war period. Miss M. E.
Diffenbacher. Miss Carrie Allen, Miss Riston. Mrs. Gossard. Mrs. Brigham.
F. n. Thompson. Rev. J. G. Reckley. Mrs. Beckley. William White. Miss
.\l)l)ie Trice, and perhaps others were at different times engaged. Mr.
Thompson taught in the fall of 1862. In Xovember of that year he and
Miss Price were married and Ix^th taught during the year next following.

Mrs. Fuller had in the meantime become a widow, and in 1864 returned
as Mrs. Boynton. She was soon thereafter induced to take a position as
teacher. Miss Dilla Letson was also engaged as teacher about the same
time. Miss Letson's work continued almost without intermission, until she
became Mrs. Waldron, while Mrs. Boynton is still in the work. In 1864-5.
A. S. Condon, now Dr. Condon of Salt Lake. Utah, was principal, and
Miss Dilla Letson, assistant. Miss Minnie Rraden and Miss Emma Gar-
rett taught in the summer of 1865.

In 1865 the frame building which now stands west of William Moran's
(P. E. Shugart) place, (and was long used as a barn on the present Dry-
bread lot) was built in the street just north of the brick school house and
used in conjunction. More rooms called for more teachers, and Messrs.
McPheeters and Beckley, assisted by Miss Rachel Trumbull and Mrs. Beck-
ley, had the young ideas in charge during the winter of 1865-6. In the
summer of 1866. Miss .Adeline B. Cheeney was chosen princijial and was
assisted by Mrs. Boynton and Miss Trumbull.

The last corps of teachers previous to organizing as an independent
district consisted of a Mr. Clapp as principal, with Mrs. Boynton, Miss
Letson and Miss X'iola Pierce, as assistants. This brings the story of the
schools down to May 6, 1867, when Mr. Weller, as princijjal, and Mrs. P.oyn-
ton. Miss Minnie Braden and Miss \'iola Pierce, as assistants, ojiened the
schools under the independent district .system.

SCHOOL DISTRICTS.

In ilie original organization of tlie school districts, it was not thought
best to leave any of the entered l;uid> witlioui a taxable interest in tlie
schools. The school district of Nevada was jiermitted to extend to the
north and east lines of tiie county, taking in a large portion of lands now
in Richland. Warren ami Lincoln townships. The wild land^ in tliat part
of the district were assessed at from three to five dollars jier acre, winle
imi)roved farms were usually rated at from six to ten dollars. The non-
resident taxpayers had abundant opix)rtunity for contributing to the cause
of education.

The Correspondence of our local land agents showed great lio])efulness
on the part of the absent owners when they acknowledged the reception
of their tax receipts, their letters often referring to the liberal taxes they
paid for the erection of school houses and congratulating themselves on the

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 71

rapid improvement of the country as shown by such facts. But when they
visited their lands with a view to sale or settlement the fine school house
was liable, greatly to their disgust, to be more than a dozen miles distant
from the lands taxed to erect it. Meantime the boundaries of the district
would be changed and another school house would be needed. Thus the
school house tax on non-resident land was a steady thing, continuing until
every hill-top was duly supplied with its educational temple. However un-
satisfactory this arrangement may have been to the possibly impoverished
'^peculator, it helped to reduce the percentage of illiteracy.

CHAPTER VHI.
REMINISCENCES BY COL. SCOTT— (CONTINUED).

THE GOOD PIONEERS.

Tile hardships of the early settlers in the town were greatly alleviated
by the generous aid and pleasant courtesy of a number of the early citizens
of the county. Among these Mr. George Kirkman, who was so bnitally
murdered May 9, 1S75, is most kindly remembered. He lived near the
south line of Indian creek township, and had surrounded himself with some
of life's necessaries before the settlement of Nevada began. He was al-
ways ready on call to leave his plow or other labor to furnish bread, meat,
vegetables or what else he might have, to those who must be fed until
they could begin to live on their own resources. And when it is remem-
bered that no sur[)lus of productions was to be had this side of southern
Jasper and Mahaska Counties, this generosity will be lietter appreciated.
It was not an exceptional thing to haul corn from Mahaska County that
had cost there more than one dollar per bushel. John Keigley, Thomas
Jones and Samuel Heistand and some others who lived on Skunk river and
Squaw creek, also deserve mention in this connection. Watt Muri^hey and
H. I'. Murphey, also Major Hawthorn and John Lackey, all of whom then
lived near Johnson's Grove, were ever reatly to .-^tart with their teams to
Iowa City, Muscatine. Davenport or Rock Island and draw supplies for the
merchants. Without the help of these men the dwellers in the town would
often have been in extremity.

One of the pleasant customs of the early days was lending and divid-
ing liberally the family supplies. The grocers would sometimes run short
of such necessaries as flour and corn meal, and it might happen that none
could be had until the roads would admit of sending teams a long distance
to procure them. During the sickness and death of Dr. Kellogg, the supply
of flour failed in the house, and there was none in town for sale. Mrs.
K. narrates with gratitude that Mr. Alderman brought her all the flour he
had in his own house, (about twenty-tive pounds) leaving himself and his
large family to subsist on corn-bread, until tlour could be obtained. Long

72

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 73

may the pioneers live among us to illustrate love and courage in woman
and pious tenderness and unselfishness in man !

SOCIAL HABITS.

In the early days there was great social freedom. Strangers, as well as
neighbors, were always welcome. The disposition to be courteous to
visitors was almost universal. True, the man who is a bear or boor by
nature will manifest his disposition even when it is greatly to his interest
to be otherwise ; but outbursts of boorishness were not common. Hospi-
tality was so free as to be scarcely rated as a virtue. No one then feared
to either extend or accept an invitation ; for everything was on a common
level, and the courtesy could be returned without embarrassment and of
the same quality. The house-wife that had taken most pains to put up
her year's supply of wild plums and crabapples could set out a more
elaborate spread with pardonable pride. Or in proper season she could
make a melon or a cracker pie that was the envy of those less given to the
study of luxury ; but such things bred no permanent estrangements.

speculators' timber.

One of the blessings the early builders possessed and of which they
availed themselves to a liberal extent was the non-resident ownership of
the growth on the adjacent timber lands. This species of property, which
in the Iowa law is absurdly reckoned as a part of the realty, was looked
upon by the pioneer very much as our fathers looked upon wild game
animals. Title in standing timber that could be used, vested in the pioneer
by "right of discovery." And while many who needed homes would not
appropriate "speculators' timber" and take their chances in litigation, yet
they did not hesitate to buy logs of those who had neither fear nor scruples
of conscience in reference to the matter. One of the wrongs committed
by these men was felt by the public as well as by the owner of the land
and consisted in the wanton destruction of some beautiful groves adjacent
to the town. One of these was near the upper ford just west of town, and
its destruction was much regretted. In the same manner, many valuable
black walnut trees were cut for fence posts and for common lumber, and
while a total loss to the owner were of little gain to the depredator and to
the purchaser.

fluctuating markets.

In the present period of rapid transit and cheap freights, we are apt
to forget how completely we were governed in our markets by our sur-
roundings in the time of ox-teams and unbridged sloughs. E. S. Hoag
tells that in the spring of 1857 he bought potatoes near Indian Town, a
village two miles east of Le Grand, paying for them four dollars per bushel.

74 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

Me cut the eyes out for planting and ate the botlies of the tubers. The
following spring he had potatoes to sell and the ruling price was five cents
per bushel. The market even at that price was limited to the wants of the
few immigrants who came into the country, as all others had potatoes
on hand. He remembers selling three bushels of potatoes to get the money
necessary to pay for a package of baking powder with which to make light
corn bread. Corn meal being the staple for bread at that time, the im-
portance of this transaction is readily seen and is full apology for the vigor
with which Ed. hustled around to get the coveted wealth out of what
would be of no value as soon as the new crop should make its appearance.

KIRST THINGS.

The steam sawmill which made the first and only native lumber, was
situated west of the lower ford, east of Mr. Frazier's (the W'm. Abbott)
house. There was a board shanty near it in whicli a family lived. John
Parker and R. D. Coldrcn were the proprietors. The first and only tannery
was carried on by H. F. Murpliey on the north side of the slough above
the brick yard. The building used was an adaptation of the old school
house to that purpose, being moved to the base of the hill for convenience
of water. The first well was dug by Mr. Alderman, near where now
stands the stable on the O. R. .Mderman place. The water found was abun-
dant and of good quality, and probably came from the underlying quick-
sands that su])ply the town well. The first water used for culinary pur-
poses was carried from the creek near tlie lower ford, and was carried for
convenience along the trail, made by hauling tiie logs for the first building.
Mr. .Alderman carried the tirst pails but soon became ill. and this labor
as well as that of caring for the pioneer, devolved temporarily upon his
wife.

Ives Marks, w1k> founded the village of Palestine, is said to have
j)reache<l the tir^i sermon. This was in the old log school house, .\niong
the early preachers was Job Carbison, an old-line and eccentric I'.aptist,
who lived on a farm near Skunk river, west of Turner McLain's farm.
Afterwards a Presbyterian named .*^teward and a Baptist named Reese,
dis])ensed ( with ) the gospel statedly, also an F]iiscopalian named X. A.
W'ellon. Meantime John Parker, the sawmill man, who was probably a
volunteer, held service in the name of llic .Methodist organization. .Ml
these men were peculiar in manner and in habits of thought, exjjression
and action. The devout attended their meetings from a sense of duty to
ilieir own professions, while those more careless fouml amusement in tiie
eccentricities of the i)reachers. Mr. Reese lived on the farm that now con-
tains lilack's additions to Ames. The first regular minister of the Method-
ist church was Rev. J. F. Hestwood. He was for a long time afterwards
a member of the conference, being a young man at the time mentioned.
Rev. R. Swearingen, quite an able man, succcetled Mr. Hestwood. The

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 75

first church building was erected on lots west of Mrs. John White's place
(now the Judd place on Elm street). It was built by the citizens but in
the name of the Cumberland Presbyterian society, which made little
progress except in the Mullen Settlement. The members after a time con-
cluded to build in their own neighborhood and sold the lot and material,
most of which had been contributed by the town.

The first law office was built by Mr. Frazier facing south toward the
park, about midway of the block. The first blacksmith shop was that of
George Helphrey. mentioned elsewhere. Daily & Compton afterwards had
a smith shop on the east end of Mrs. Let.son's residence lots. About
1857 Mathis Switzer had a smith shop near the present residence of Judiah
Rav (the Ed. Statler home). It is related of Switzer's business methods
that in explanation he said, "if I work on credit I not charge much ; for
maybe I lose him; but if he pay cash, then I tell you, I charge him."
Switzer became a prosperous farmer in Grant township. The lot where
E. S. Hoag has his pleasant residence was the residence of Truman Kelly.
His house stood back from the street, while the front was occupied by
his blacksmith shop, and in passing it is curious to note the various loca-
tions of earlier smith ships. Helphrey's on the corner facing Mrs. Butt's
place ; Daily & Compton on the east end of Mrs. Letson's place, another
on the southeast corner of the block of Charles D. Berry, where Mr. Lyman
(Frank Poage) now lives, and that of Mr. Switzer near Mr. Ray's resi-
dence. There was also at one time a smith shop a short distance south
of Lockwood's mill ( Frazier's elevator).

The first printing office was in a small frame building facing the park,
standing west of Homer Boardman's place (Dr. Smith's). The Story
County Advocate was there started by R. R. Thrall. The building was
afterwards moved to the lots now occupied by Dr. Smith (opposite John-
son Bros. & Go's., implement house) and was the residence of Mr. Thrall's
family. Mr. Thrall's well, just below the house proved the abundant
supply of water in the locality, which was finally utilized by the town for
the public well. Charlie Smith's shoe shop on the Ballou (S. H. Booher)
lot was afterwards used as a printing office, as was subsequently the Abner
Lewis property near where Mrs. Ringheim (Misses Emily and Hannah
Ringheim) now lives. The court house was also used at one time for
the same purpose, while it was also used for court offices.

THE FIRST RACES.

Long before the building of the speedcourse tradition tells of a trial
of swift-footed coursers on an extemporized track north of the McLain
House. Two of our citizens, who have long felt the weight of years and
piety and who would not now under any consideration engage in a scrub race,
in the giddy and wild and woolly long ago found themselves insisting on
the speed and virtues of their respective horses. The parties were none

76 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

other than J. C. Lovell and George Cliild. Each had a team. In each team
was a marvel of speed. Over these coursers they had many a war of
words. These boastful battles finally resulted in a challenge from Child
to Lovell to a trial for supremacy with a town lot for stakes, which chal-
lenge was promptly accepted. It was afterwards reported that preliminary
to the wager George had surreptitously made a moonlight trial with Jim's
plugs and had discovered that his horse could distance either of them.
The conditions contained the innocent reservation on the part of Lovell
that he could run any of his horses against Oiild's entry. The time was
fixed, the judges appointed and all preliminaries arranged, and at the su-
preme moment all the idlers in town were present. When mounts came to
the score for the word Lovell rode a three-year-old colt that had not
figured in the moonlight trials nor in Child's estimates. At the word the
colt took the lead and when well along the course Lovell turned to see the
whereabouts of his rival. In doing this he checked his own speed and
swayed from the best part of the track, and Child, being a good second,
took the lead. But glory and a town-lot being at stake, Lovell rallied the
colt, which being by heel and hand admonished, responded and came in a
neck in advance. The boys had a war of words. Fraud was freely
charged. The realty changed hands. Afterwards George hedged by pur-
chasing the colt for his speed ; but he never won another race.

TH1-; FIRST M.MI, ROUTE.

The first mail route was from Des Moines by way of Iowa Center and
the mail was for many years carried by the sturdy and brave 'Squire Rob-
inson. In fair weather or foul his arrival on time was to be expected.
True, the elements were sometimes too much for him, and there were
storms in the winter of 1856-7 during which for many days at a time even
he was prone to confine himself to his own fireside; but such minor ac-
cidents as the washing away of all the bridges on the route and the deep
flushing of Skunk bottom could be overcome. The mails were not to be
delayed by trifles when in the possession of the 'Squire. Tlie mails were
not very heavy. There was no public library. Private cdllcctions of ap-
proved literature were not extensive. Lectures and entertainments were
unknown. The Sunday meetings were more matters of form than of sub-
stance, considered as to profit mentally. What wonder then that the pub-
lic rooms of the hotels and such offices as contained tables were almost
continually filled with euchre and old-sledge parties, and the candles burne<l
far into the night. Hut I think with .ill tlie card playing gambling was al-
most unknown.

THE FIRST COUNTY nUILDING.

Before the first court house was built the office of county treasurer
and recorder was kept in the small building south of the park west of

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 77

Homer Boardman's place that was afterwards used by Mr. Thrall as a
printing office and in which the Story County Advocate was first published.
James C. Moss was treasurer and recorder and William Lockridge was his
deputy.

THE FIRST PAPER PUBLISHED.

It is possibly stated elsewhere that the first newspaper was the Story
County Advocate. It is true this was the first newspaper printed in the
county ; but it is remembered that at an earlier day about the time of the
arrival of the weekly mail a written sheet was sometimes picked up on the
street which contained the news of town interspersed with interesting per-
sonal squibs and anecdotes. The name of the responsible publisher was
not given: but it was afterwards known that Randolph Goodin, a young
lawyer, got up the publication. A file of that paper would now alTord ma-
terial for this story.

THE FIRST BAND.

Mr. Wagoner, a lame shoemaker, organized and taught the first brass
band in the town of Nevada. S. S. Statler was one of the bright lights
in that first band of musicians. Sam whistled upon a clarionet, and I am
still able to call up the looks of wonder and astonishment as we watched
him finger his shrill instrument.

THE FIRST DANCING SCHOOL.

A Mr. Dodd and his brother from Jasper county taught the first dancing
school that was ever taught in Nevada, and for about twelve months Dodd's
dancing school was all the go with the younger members of society. And
not a few of the elder ones would come out to see one of the teachers dance
the grape-vine or cut the pigeon-wing.

THE FIRST FAIR.

In 1859 a county fair was held in Nevada. The site of the exhibit of
livestock was north and west of the old court house. The court room was
used for the display of some wares of the household and products of the
field. There were three squashes that had been raised from seed sent from
California, the average weight of the three being about one hundred
pounds. An amusing incident of this fair was —

THE FIRST BABY SHOW.

Mrs. Charles Schoonover entered her Minnie. Mrs. John Shoemaker
entered her Maggie. Mrs. R. R. Thrall entered her Ella. Mrs. Chas. G.
Robbins entered her little girls, and Mrs. Isaac Evans borrowed Mrs. J.

78 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

(i. TannerV Jimniv and threw his cap defiantly into the ring. Amid much
merriment and a goodly deal of interest and warmth of contention ihe
prize was borne ofT in triumph by the incipient journalist. The defeated
feminine contestants became beautiful women and arc now jjrobably
mothers of prize infants; but the acute judges saw promise under adipose
tissue and gave him the medal. Whether the mothers of the neglected in-
fants ever forgave the stujiifl judges is not recorded.

THE FIRST SUICIDK.

Doctor .-\damson, who was calletl in professionally, and others remem-
ber that Martin Batzner, who was the first barber in town, opened a shop
north of the south square and in connection with his tonsorial labors also
kept a variety store. He was successful in his business, but was .supposed
to have taken greatly to heart a rumored rejection of his addresses by a
young lady, which disappointment unsettled his mind. He borrowed a
rifle from a neighbor, put his shop in good order late on Saturday night
and rei)aired to the unoccupied log house near John Stone's present (late)
residence and >hot himself through the heart. He was missed from his
seat at the breakfast table by Mr. Tanner, with whom he boarded; but no
uneasiness was felt for a time, as it was not thought strange that he should
be late on Sunday morning. Rut as the morning wore away some of the
citizens compared notes and began to fear that evil had befallen him. His
shop was examined and found not to have been occupied, an alarm was
given and a search set on foot. Many of the citizens repaired to the creek
and thickets south of town in crowds. The writer of these lines went alone
on a tour among the deserted buildings. In the second house visited the
body wa- found with ghastly face turned upward, his hands still grasping
the deadly rifle and his well-worn Bible by his side. There was evidence
that his self-destruction was deliberately planned and coolly carried out.
even to the extent of reading for some time from the sacred writings. The
testimony before the coroner fully c-tablished the facts as here given.

TRl-:i:i'L.\NTI\C..

Russell McLain planted the cottonwood trees in front of the I'.arl
place (at east end of .\ddison lots), also those on the .lu<lge Mitchell place.
John Mcl.ain planted those on the lots where the old hotel stood, the William
Hall place, also the trees on the Lyman Dinsmore farm. Frank Mcl.ain
planted the cottonwoods in fn>m <if his lots, the Wor.sley place (west of J. .\.
Mills). These are. what arc left of them, the oldest trees in town. Many of
them have been removed; but tiiey made the first show of shade and broke
the monotony of the glare of new houses standing out in the bright sunshine,
and the sight of them encouraged the subsequent planting that has done so
much for the appearance of the town and comfort of the citizens.

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 79

It may be of interest also to note that the first white willow cuttings ever
planted in Story county now stand near the northwest corner of the Lyman
Dinsmore place. They were set there by John McLain, and, I believe, were
brought from Rochelle, Illinois, by his brother, William. They were
closely cut for many years and miles of willow were no doubt grown from
cuttings atlforded by that small planting. There was a golden willow near
the west door of McLain's hotel, from which Dilla Letsen (Mrs. John V.
Waldron ) planted two cuttings on the east end of her father's lots. From
these I planted, near my home, cuttings from which have grown trees more
than two feet in diameter.

Perhaps the eldest tree entirely grown on the town plat is a honey
locust which Mrs. Kellogg discovered growing from a seed in the corner
of her calf pen. She carefully nurtured it. even transplanting it to her
flower-garden, and from thence to its present site on the lots where she
formerly lived west of her present residence (now O. I. Spencer property).

THE OPEN COUNTRY.

While the county seat was busy getting into shape for the emoluments
of trade and county business the prairie around it was not wholly neglected,
and several outside towns were being started. Among the sites selected for
outside towns by the early settlers were those of Iowa Center, New Phila-
delphia, Bloomington, New Albany, Fairview, Defiance, Prairie City, Smith-
field and Cambridge. Iowa Center and Cambridge retain their names and
locations. Ontario and Story City have supplanted New Philadelphia and
Fairview. New Albany was near Nelson Perry's residence on section i8,
township 93, range 21. Bloomington's remains still occupy the old site and
place on the county map. Defiance was near the southeast corner of the
county. Prairie City was platted on the west line of Milford township
on a part of the farm of John E. Davis. Smithfield was in the west part of
Howard township on the south half of the northeast quarter of section
eighteen. Southeast of Nevada the ^Mullen Settlement had been made.
John Hempstead and Mr. Harrison, Sam's father, lived on the east side of
West Indian Creek on Fultz place, while Lewis Applegate lived on the west
side. Mr. Fitch lived a little farther south. J. P. Robinson, the 'Squire,
with his sons about him, had the Finley and McConnell farms.

Russell McLain's first improvement before he settled in the village
was on the site of H. H. Robinson's present dwelling (in the Mullen Settle-
ment), while Abner Lewis had opened the place now owned by Z. Shugart
(Sherman Shaw), and which Lewis sold to Jesse McLain. Ale.x. Dins-
more had also improved the farm long occupied by him, and the William
Hague place was occupied in the early day by his father. Thus the early
settlement was not only near the timber but had a tendency to locate itself
in a southeasterl)' direction as being nearer to the region of civilization.

80 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

The earliest lines of travel were by way of Iowa Center, Peoria City,
and Corey's Grove to Des Moines, and by Iowa Center, and Peoria City to
Newton. The latter route was soon made more direct by following a
plowed furrow across the TJrairie toward the ambitious town of Defiance,
of which Anson Deters was the proprietor. Part of the travel branched
off more to the south and passed through Clyde and thence by way of
Kintz's tavern to Newton. It was from this direction that many of the
early settlers had first come into the county, and jasper and Mahaska
counties were the Egypt where corn was to be had until it could be raised on
the newly turned sod in Story.

The cabin of old Mr. Applegate north of Tom Hemstock's farm was
the only building between Fitch's place and the north end of Center Grove
on the road to Cambridge. The crossings of West Indian Creek were
fords, one west of the brick yard (on Sycamore street), and the other just
below the bridge on the Alderman (Fantz) farm. There was a small house
inhabited for a short time on the J. C. Mitchell farm near the present line
of the railway. Other than these the country was open in all directions.
The Oliver Stephenson farm (four miles east of Nevada) was occupied by
Peter P. Martin, and there were other farms along the timber and in the
edges of groves. There was but one house on the prairie beyond the timber
on East Indian Creek, the old Larue place. The road to Marshalltown
or rather to Marietta, which was then the county seat of Marshall county,
was in a northeast direction and passed John P. Pool's and Watt .Murphey's
places. The bridge over East Indian was near Pool's house. Traveling
east and north from Murphey's there was no house passed until demons
Grove was reached in Marshall county. A family named Taylor lived for
a time near the east line of Story County on this road but abandoned their
place. Mr. John McCain, senior, lived north of the road, and a portion
of the travel went near his house to the place now owned by Misouri See.
A few families lived in and near Johnson's Grove. The next nearest set-
tlement in that direction was bjeyond Zearing (about Illinois Grove).
Nearly all of Grant, Milford, Sherman, Richland, Lincoln, Collins, Howard
and all of Warren were unoccujiied. In many places neither house nor
tree between the eye and the horizon could be seen in any direction.

.Apropos to this condition may be mentioned the prairie fires which were
nightly seen for weeks at a time in the fall and spring, the light showing
on the horizon for perhaps thirty to sixty miles, and frequently, of course,
right at hand. Stacks, stables and sometimes houses, were burned every
year; but the most grave disaster was the burning to death of a whole family
while traveling in a covered wagon with their household goods. This oc-
cured on the road toward Story City not far from a large rock that shows
on an elevated point about a mile north of Hon. I'rank Curtiss' farm. The
fire started west of the Judge Mason farm in Grant township and under
a very high wind overtook and enveloped the wagon, leaping hundreds of
feet in a moment and blazing fiercely as it struck the tall grass in the low

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 81

grounds. The man was asleep in the wagon, his wife driving the team
and unconscious of the impending disaster. The man, his wife, the chil-
dren, the horses and even the dog burned to death, the man being the only
one who lived long enough to tell the story.

Much of the country was very flat and wet, and as the settlers were not
able to bridge the streams and sloughs except in the cheapest form and only
where absolutely needed travelers had ample scope for the exercise of in-
genuity in avoiding bogs not covered with a sod strong enough to bear
their teams, and in extricating themselves when luckless enough to mire
down. For some years the big slough east of John O'Neil's place in Sher-
man township (where is now the "Handsaker" ditch) was an object of
solicitude for those going toward Marietta. And another bad one was
a short distance east of the J. C. Lovell school house. It was important
that loaded teams should travel in company and be ready to afford each
other help.

But the terror of the traveler far and near was Skunk Bottom. From
the north line of Franklin township to Mahaska county the bottom lands
adjacent to Skunk river were soft and treacherous and in wet seasons cov-
ered with water. There was a bridge over the bed of the river near Cam-
bridge; but to reach that from the northeast it was sometimes necessary
to wade several hundred yards through water to the hub, or to the beds or
seats of the wagon or buggy. To avoid the deeper places and those where
the sod had been torn by passing wheels or was rotten, it required a guide
on horseback who was familiar — or professed to be — with the places that
must be avoided and whose customary fee was half a dollar. It was fully
as bad on the road from Newton to Des Moines, on which there was a
great deal of travel and by reason of which the whole region had much
unsavory advertisement.

CIIAITKR IX.
KE.MIXISCKXCES UY COL. SCOTT— (COXCLUDED).

Till-: EXPERIENCE OF Jll.l.\ ROM.MNE.

In illustration of tiie wild habits of Skunk river as it was in early
(lays and supi)lementary to what is said elsewiiere, many incidents are re-
membered by those who knew it previous to its reformation. In one of
these Mrs. Isaac Walker, then Miss Julia Romaine. took an involuntary
and extraordinary bath. In the fall of 1862 with a horse and bugg)- on
her way to visit some friends in Mitchellvillc. a little before sunset she
reached the old crossing near Plummer's about two miles from Mitchell-
ville. The road wound along among the bayous in the bottom through the
timber and was not a pleasant or attractive drive under its best conditions ;
but covered with water, the light fading, the dark shadows of the trees
l)laying upon the surface and misleading the eye and judgment, it must
jie«ds have been a very brave girl that would attem|n the treacherous jias-
sage at such an Iiour.

The fair Julia had little time for parley with the child near Plummer's
house who told her that men on horseback had crossed during the day.
She had already driven many miles to find a bridge that showed above the
flood; and being so near her destination she did not hesitate. With a stoiU
htart she began to thread the labyrinth out and in among the trees with
water from fetlock to midside. she held her way till the bridge was reached
and the raging channel safely crossed. Though twilight was deepening, she
was full of hope; for through openings in the trees she could see the far-
off shore. I'iUt soon the party came to grief. Deeper and deeper went the
buggy, until the brave driver took perch upon the .seat of the buggy, as
the tide rolled through its bed. Even this resource failed; for in a moment
without notice all footing was lost, and horse, driver and buggy went into
the depths. The subsequent events will probably never be told in tlieir
exact order. .After a lapse of more than a quarter of a century Mrs. Walker
is the sole survivor of what might have been a sad tragedy, and she ha^
little (lis])Osition to give the world her best impression and recollections
N'o doubt she was luore engrossed in those trying hours with the rcsult>
to be attained than with the manner of their accomiilishment. In imagina-
tion we can. even in the growing darkness, see a somewhat obscure and

82

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 83

tragic picture of a rather ghostly liorse, harness and buggy in a waste of
waters, badly confused as to the present and almost hopeless as to the
future. In the foreground of this scene in what might safely be called a
"dissolving view" are glimpses of damp calico and other portions of femi-
nine apparel, alternately clothing and clinging about the form of a woman
in a desperate situation but stout of heart and with no thought of quitting
until the job was done.

But imagination will not do justice to the actual scene. Kate Shelley
in her wild flight through the woods over the pathless bluffs and across the
swollen river in her errand of life and death had solid footing; but Julia
Romaine was in the flood, not above it, and had before her the task of
saving her own life and rescuing the only other living thing in sight, the
faithful horse. Both of these she accomplished. It seems that in the
|)Iunge in which all were engulfed the buggy and its occupants were thrown
forward, and Miss Romaine was not only on the horse's back, but securely
fastened there by means of the interlacing of her ribbed crinoline and the
turrets of the harness. This fastening she could neither undo nor break.
In his struggles the horse broke from the vehicle and got a temporary
but insecure footing, and his involuntary rider found no way of freeing
herself, but by slipping out of her heavy clothing and leaving her garments
on the horse. This she did and after securing her horse to a tree to keep
him from following her, for the poor beast seemed to feel that in her
assistance his safety was to be found, she struck out for land. In her
wanderings she crossed the main channel and attempted to stride a floating
log in the hope that it would help her on her way ; but in the two attempts
she made, the logs turned so quickly as to go over her each time to her
grave peril. But she had already learned to swim, or rather she found
she could swim, and she breasted the current thereafter without the aid
of floating logs and finally reached the north shore about half a mile below
where she had entered the water some hours before.

Seeing a light that promised shelter and aid, she carefully advanced
and found it to proceetl from the window of Mr. Plummer's dwelling.
Knocking at the door, she was admitted by a thoroughly frightened little
girl, sole occupant of the house, the remainder of the family with some
hastily summoned neighbors being then engaged in exploring the river for
the lost woman who was supposed to have been drowned. Miss Romaine
made a hasty contract with the child for some much needed clothing, ar-
layed herself as best she could in mis-fit garments, a world too small and
serenely awaited the surjirise of her good friends on their return home
and their congratulations on her brave and successful struggle with the
noted river on a bender.

.\NOTHER INCIDENT.

Of the following experience the writer was a witness. It was in the
winter of 1864-5, when Nevada was the western limit of travel by rail and

84 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

connection was liad with the outer world and the state capital by the coaches
of the Western Stage Company. Skunk bottom was covered with water
from bluff to bluff, and fording had for some time been a terror to the
company, as well as to the traveler. But at this particular time, it suddenly
turned cold and ice was added to the difficulties. 1 had gone to Des Moines
and anticipating trouble at the crossing near Cambridge if I delayed
my return, set out and drove to Cambridge late in the evening. It was
not safe to attempt the ford, as ice was rapidly forming, and I put up
for the night. Next morning there was a sheet of thin ice from the
bridge over the channel to the second bottom below Mellis' place. It was
strong and tough but not thick enough to bear a team. Towards noon
the coach came in from Des Moines, and that from Nevada was already
at the north landing. An ice boat was improvised on which the baggage
of the lady passengers was placed and the crossing was made in that
manner. As the load was moved the ice swayed under the weight, cracking
in every direction, and the water came through in many places but did not
that I remember break entirely down. Several of the party got wet feet ;
but all took the matter pleasantly except an army officer. Colonel Simpson,
who was loud in his denunciations of the beastly country. I came home
by the coach, leaving my team at Cambridge until Jack Frost should repair
and strengthen the bridge, which he did the following night.

These incidents serve to show that Skunk river was quite a feature in
the landscape at various seasons in the olden time.

A YOUNG CYCLONE.

It is told of the old Bamdollar house that while occupied by Dr. Kellogg
the roof blew off in the night, and while Judge Kellogg was slceiiing in
the upper apartment. The u])i)er floor was not fully comjileted and as the
judge sprang out of bed he happened to leap in the direction of an un-
floored space and, greatly astonished, picked himself up on the lower tliKir,
safe and sound. In this storm the house was not only unroofed, but some
of the upper logs were blown off. George's (the judge) bed was found
on an adjacent lot next day. The old school house was badly wrecked. Jim
Moore's house on the south end of Gillespie's lots was unrtxjfed. The
Bales house on the Fenn place was moved from its foundation, and the
steam Ixiiler for the Parker & Coldren mill, which had not yet been |)Ut
in place but was near the Dr. Hoag place (Geo. Robison), was blown over
to another lot. Some houses on East Indian were also damaged. This
was not a cyclone but a steady wind that lasted some hours. Mrs. Kello.trg
tells that when the roof and upper story began to leave and the rattle and
crash of tumbling logs was heard above the roar of the storm she drew the
bed-clothes over her head to ward off the impending calamity. Wnen the
movement of timbers ceased, she cautiously took an observation and ilis-
covered that the rain was falling in torrents and there was nothing but

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 85

rain between her bed and the clouds. They scrambled out. She wrapped
a bed-quilt around herself : her husband by the glare of the lightning found
and got into his nether garments, and they struck out across the street for
McLain's hotel. They found shelter and by the kindness of the family and
guests soon had dry clothing. It took the surplus clothing of five different
men to supply her husband and his brother with full summer suits. Next
morning they found scattered household goods in the wake of the storm.
There were not closets, wardrobes or bureaus in the house. All the towels,
sheets, clothing, books, papers, medicines, and all personal belongings had
been piled in the loft, and everything was gone or water-soaked to satura-
tion. The feather bed on which George had been sleeping was picked up
from the only piece of plowed ground in the neighborhood. During the
greater part of the day George was diligently searching and examining the
track of the storm for some valuable paper which when found by himself
clinging closely to a weed far over in the slough proved to be a letter he had
written to the girl he left behind him. It had been left in a law book to await
mail day and had a narrow escape from utter destruction. Mrs. K. relates
very candidly that before she got things in shape again she had many long-
ings for the old Ohio home. Several other houses were unroofed in the
same storm. Mrs. E. G. Day, who was ill at the time, and lived in a log
house on the Hutchins house corner, was carried to the McLain house for
safety.

The Barndollar log house when first occupied by the family of Dr.
Kellogg was not pointed up with mortar. To get some lime for this purpose
a set of chairs, a table and some other articles, the doctor and his brother
George A. drove to Pella. Meantime until these were procured the beds
were placed on the floor, a dry-goods box served for a table and seats were
extemporized in any manner found practicable. There was not a fence about
any house in town and very few doors had secure fastenings. The only
fence on the town plat enclosed the block on which William Lockridge now
lives (the Emmet Armstrong place). Several families had vegetable gardens
on the block in 1855, ^^^ there was no house thereon.

Deer and grouse were then abundant and formed a large proportion of
the flesh-food of the people. On one occasion a deer was chased by dogs
within a few steps of Mrs. Kellogg's door and was shot not far from where
the railway station now stands.

It is related that in wet weather it was not unusual to see wagons mired
down in the streets as they attempted to pass over the slight depressions of
the general surface. One of these depressions was in the street that runs
south from McLain's hotel and in front of that block where the street is now
as solid as at other points. It is certainly true that the general surface under
the occupancy of white men and the tread of livestock is greatly changed.

86 HISTORY OF STORY COUXTY

There is a pathos about tlie early experiences of Mrs. Kellogg that is
very touching. The family arrived on the 17th day of June, 1855. and soon
afterward her baby boy died. A year later her husband was laid beside the
child, being the first adult jjcrson who died in the town. The graves of her
loved ones are on the knoll which now comprises a part of our beautiful cem-
etery but which was then only a portion of the wild prairie surrounding the
town. Every s])ot of low ground was covered with grass as high as a man's
iiead. and in her visits to those lonely graves she was liable to see a wolf or
his Indian hunter or to hear some discordant and unknown sound, and i)eing
unable to see over the tall grass tiiat skirted the path, she often turned from
iier pious errand in sore afright and hurried home.

KAKl.V TRIALS.

As incidents are called again to memor\- many trials and hardships are
remembered whicii by many have been long forgotten. Such memories
cluster around the old houses and may be regarded as either humorous or
pathetic as we may be inclined to laugh or weep. The old I'.arndollar house
had its full share of them, l)cing rented to eacJi new settler in turn till some-
thing more comfortable could be procured. In my first recollection of it in
the following winter of 185(1 it was occuj^ied by E. S. Hoag, himself, wife,
son and brother Dun composing tlie famil\. .After tlie terrible storm of
December first broke in all its fury and continuing for five days through
snow and blow without ceasing, covering the whole face of the country and
filling all low |)laces until they were impassable, it was at the risk of life that
the two men went back and forth to the farm, only two miles west of town.
Ed tells with grim humor and a full sense of its absurdity of his getting out
of mopey during these times and being a stranger and having no credit ; but
the climax was not reached until he got out of tobacco. He then foiuul out
what real trouble means. On an occasion of this kind he tells of having
suffered pangs worse than those of common hunger and. being refused credit
at the grocery, the sight of a convenient plug of tobacco made him desperate
and he stole it. When he got some money he could afford to confess and i)ay
uj) and consider it a rough joke on himself, but he says it i< a literal fact.

During the summer and fall of 1856 William G. Allen and \ incent Tom-
linson both lived in the old log house on the Mrs. Hizer (Bailey) lots. It
was a mere jien ; but the two families could do no better than to occupy it
together. They only just got out of it before the great storm of December
set in.

.\. D. Shaw passed the winter of 1856-7 in a mere shanty in the west
pari of town. He had come in late in the fall and had brought some nice
short-horn cows. There was not time to pre|)are for winter by i)utling up
feed for the cattle. .Most of the cows succumbed to unfavorable circum-

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 87

stances before the winter was over. I believe quite a number of his oxen
got through.

THE INDIAN SCARE.

In tlie spring of 1857 before break of day one memorable morning a man
drove to the McLain house, his horses covered with foam. His wagon
contained his little family and such valuables as could be hastily gathered
and loaded. He came from the direction of Story City and probably from
what is now Hamilton County. He was escaping from savage Indians on
the war-path who were murdering and burning everything in his neighbor-
hood. He evidently regarded his own escape as a very remarkable occur-
rence and that all near him had been exterminated. His excitement was
contagious in a high degree. It spread to the population of our village and
while valorous men took measures to defend their homes the women ran
to and fro in wild confusion. It was seriously contemplated to gather the
women and children into the court house and fortify it against the savages.
This would have been about as practical as going to sea in a paper box.
But probably it was soon learned that the savages had not ventured far
south of Spirit Lake, where they really had committed horrible destruction
of life and property, wiping out that frontier settlement; but the scare was
wide-spread and was the cause of many absurd incidents.

Among these it is remembered that Dr. Carr, who was then living at
Bloomington. went out north of that town to visit a patient who had been
very ill on the day previous, and on arriving at the house found only evidence
of a very hasty flight of the whole family, including his patient, and by
further inquiry learned of the expected descent of the savages. All over the
country old guns were collected and preparations were made to give the
redskins a warm reception.

There were some peaceably disposed Indians yet in the country and the
customs of these were calculated to startle those women on whom they
made calls for the first time. The habit of the Indian in such cases was
to appear at the window and if necessary to press his face close to the
window-pane and thus scan the interior. If he discovered any of the
family in possession he would express his pleasure with a hideous grin of
approval and forthwith open the door and make himself at home. The
equanimity of the women who were temporarily alone on such occasions
was liable to be seriously disturbed. Mrs. Kellogg reports having had such
a visit from an Indian who had killed a deer over on the west side of the
creek and had broken his knife and wished to borrow another. It hap-
pened that her husband had gone to visit a patient in that direction in the
morning, and her anxiety for his return and escape from the bloody knife

88 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

of that Indian and her uneasiness for several hours seem much more ludi-
crous now than ilicy did then.

ANOTHER INDIAN SCARE.

Sam S. Statler (still an honored citizen of Nevada) is said to have been
out looking uji government lands in what is now Warren township, perhaps
in the early part of 1855. He became separated from his party and while
working out some lines he came upon East Indian Creek near the old Burk-
liart place, -•^s he looked across the valley toward the south he saw ap-
proaching him upon a white steed, to his intense horror and terror, a wild
savage with gun and knife, arrayed in blanket, leggings and feathered head-
gear and bedecked with war-paint. Sam was then a tenderfoot from the
mountains of l'enn.-;ylvania, the scene of many a horrible massacre in the
early days, and all the traditions of his childhood rose before him. He
had not even a pocket-knife on his person with which to withstand the as-
sault of his desperate and hereditary foe. Poor Sam, his blood froze in his
veins, while great beads of sweat stpod on his surface. He could neither
hope to escape by flight nor by victory. In slieer desperation he awaited his
anticipated butchery, alone and helpless, confessed his sins and forgave his
enemies, as he hoped for forgiveness among the strangers he was so soon
to meet. At steady gait and with undaunted mien the wily but open foe
came on. The gleam of his fiery eye was now close at hand. Fear and
trembling w-ere upon the victim. His knees smote together. The hair of
his head stood up. The Indian raised his hand. He made an expressive
gesture toward his mouth. He grunted "Bacca." Sam drew a full in-
spiration of the free air. His hat settled down again. In haste he drew
from his stores a large plug of the coveted weed, which had scarcely been
broken upon and presented it to the unknown but now admired chieftain.
The latter gave a grunt of satisfaction, cut off a liberal chew, dropped the
remainder into some mysterious fold of his primitive garments and went his
winding w-ay. Sam afterwards learned that he had in this never-to-be-for-
gotten way met old Johnny Green, chief of the ever peaceful Musquakies,
and in fact at subsequent meetings the parties had some quiet sport over
the terror which Sam freely acknowledged that he experienced at their
first interview.

THE INSANITY OF THOS. LARCOM.

In 1855 Mr. Thomas Larcom became insane and an attempt wa- made
to take him to his former home in Ohio. George Child, .sheriff, and Dr. V.
\'. .\damson as medical attendant, started with l.arcom. driving with a team
as far as Rochclle. Illinois, whence they went by rail to Kenton. Ohio.
Stopping there for a day or two, Larcom succeeded in buying out a jewelry
store in town. From this place Child returned, and .^damson went with
Larcom as far as Belle fontaine. Ohio, where the latter, a fine appearing

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 89

fellow, smart and with the cunning possessed by some insane persons,
passed himself off for the keeper and the little doctor as his insane charge
(this part of the story, as will appear later, is a slight exaggeration). In
this wav he succeeded in starting for Iowa, leaving the doctor behind. In
Chicago he was interviewed by the press and got off a sensational story
as to the escape of the insane person he had in charge. He employed a man
in Chicago to come home with him, induced this man to pay his fare to
Rochelle, which was then the terminus of the railroad. Child came home by
way of Peoria, and Dr. Adamson returned at leisure after giving up his
search for his patient, who in the meantime had preceded both of them,
arriving several days in advance of his keepers. This incident was greatly
enjoyed by the early settlers and was the occasion of much good-natured
chaffing of Adamson and Child.

While on the way home Larcom fell in with a shoemaker named Chas.
G. Smith, who was probably going west to grow up with the country. Tom
pictured to him with all the embellishments of fevered insanity the delights
of this western Eden, and Charlie came with him to the booming city of
Tom's wild imagination. To say that Charlie was astounded to find that his
gentlemanly and well-informed conductor was insane, is but a mild state-
ment of the fact. Still to this incident the town was indebted for another
resident, who built the house now owned by Mr. Ballou (the rear part of the
S. H. Boohie home) and planted the cottonwood trees that still (until with-
in a few years) shade the sidewalk in front.

After writing the foregoing Col. Scott received the story of Larcom from
the pen of Dr. Adamson, giving further and very interesting details varying
in some particulars from the traditions, but accepted by the colonel as strictly
true. The Adamson version, substantially in the doctor's own words, was
as follows :

It was with this last influx of citizens (in 1855) that there came into our
midst one known as Thomas Larcom. He came direct from Illinois, was
poor but exceedingly active, and engaged in any honorable avocation where-
by he might turn an honest penny. Everything he put his hand to turned into
money. Finally he began teaching an "outline geography," commonly known
as "singing geography." He had full houses and his whole time was oc-
cupied ; but the mental strain was too great for him, and his mind gave way.
He was looked upon as a harmless lunatic and his friends took charge of him
by order of the county judge. Some months after this he escaped the vig-
ilance of his keepers and fled into Marshall county. On his way he stopped
in a corn-field and exchanged his clothes for some tattered garments that
were hung up as a scare-crow. Arrayed in these he arrived in Marshall-
town, or Marietta, on Sunday morning at about the hour for Sunday school.
As he passed down the principal street of the village, he noticed the door of
a lawyer's office slightly ajar and entered without any ceremony whatever.
The lawyer was engaged in shaving that he might be more presentable when
he took his place in the class at Sabbath school. Tom coming behind him

90 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

and witliout any undue commotion, the attorney was not aware of his pres-
ence until he saw Tom's haggard visage from the looking-glass beside his
own. With not a little fear he faced the crazy man. when Tom in a tragic
voice exclaimed: "I have a commission from Jesus Christ to kill all red-
headed lawyers that come in my way." Without stopping to wipe the lather
from his half-shaven face or to consider the order of his going, he went at
once by way of the back-door and as he ran he gave the alarm.

Tom took an inventory of the office, then deliberately divested himself
of his tattered garments and taking the attorney's cloak from its peg on the
wall wrapped it about him, went out on the street and to the church where
the Sunday school was assembling. Stalking majestically into the pulpit, he
took charge of the school. By this time the village was fully aroused and
everyone was out to assist in capturing the strange mad-man. .\s Tom
noticed the assembled crowd he cast aside his cloak, leapetl through one of
the open windows and endeavored to escape from his pursuers. But as they
were coming in u]X)n him from all sides he rushed in at the ojien door of a
dwelling and was captured in one of the upper rooms, where he was found
trying to array himself in the clothing of a little girl. He was returned in
irons, and after this a closer watch was kept over him.

Late in the fall or early winter he secured one of his own horses and
made a second escape. This time he was captured in Tama county and re-
turned to his keepers.

.'\s I.arcom was becoming more and more difficult to control Judge l-.van>
ordered his guardian to get everything in readiness for sending him to an
asylum. Sheriff Child and Dr. Adamson were selected to assist in carrying
out the mandates of the court. When everything was in readiness, the
sheriff, the doctor and Tom all being in a spring wagon and ready for the
start, Tom suddenly exclaimed that he had not bidden Mrs. J. H. McLain
and the dining-room girls good-bye, and that he would not move an inch
until he had done so. lie sjirang out of the wagon, entered the hotel, going
in the direction of the dining-room, Iml he passed on through, and went out
at the back door and into the barn, where he saddled and bridled a horse;
and while the sheriff and party were watching for his apjiearance at the front
door of the hotel he escaped by a back alley and was at least half a mile on
his way toward Des Moines before it was known that he was gone. Then
began a wild chase. Tom was on a gocxl horse, and it was not long before he
was out of sight. We heard nf liim from those he passed in his mad Hight.
and twice he write notes on tiie margin of a ncwspajicr and placed them
cons|)icuously on the road so that we would be sure to get them. In each note
he urged us to hurry up. saying that he had business of importance at the
land office in the cai)ital city. When he arrived at Des Moines he put u|) at
the f>i)ly tirsl-dass hotel, ordered a hasty nieal and after his a])i)rtite was
appeased he went over to the land office, where he introtluced himself as
"Judge" I.arcom. a caiiitalist of Stf)ry County, who was anxious to invest in
gdvernment lands. 1 le had a number of the clerks making out township i)lats

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 91

for him. and by the time the sheriff arrived they had completed about twenty-
five dollars' worth. The government officials were dumbfounded when they
learned how completely they had been taken in by an insane man and finally
accepted as a huge joke what could not be helped.

The sheriff' and the doctor had another little trouble in getting Larcom
started but finally succeeded in getting him as far as Ogle county, Illinois.
But being unable to prove up his residence there, it was determined to take
him to the asylum in Ohio. But when they arrived at his old home in Hardin
County, Ohio, it was found that it was necessary to prove a township as well
as state and county residence. This they were unable to do, and after de-
liberating over the matter it was determined to take Tom to his father's at
Marietta, Ohio, and suft'er him to remain there until he should have acquired
a residence, when his father would procure for him admission to the asylum.

-As Tom was. or seemed to be, exceedingly anxious to see his father, it
was thought that the doctor would have no trouble in taking him to his
destination. The sheriff' returned to Illinois and the doctor started with his
charge. At Bellefontaine there was a delay of about one hour for the Mar-
ietta train. Tom became restless and wanted some apples. The doctor gave
iiim twenty-five cents and told him to go to an apple stand and buy. He saw
him make his purchase and receive his change. He came back eating his
apples, looked at the clock and remarked, "It will soon be train-time; will
you be kind enough to show me the water-closet?" He was seen to enter it
and close the door. The doctor read his paper for about ten minutes and
observed the door still closed. We waited five minutes. No Tom. Grew
uneasy, went to the closet and opened the door, to find that his charge was
not there nor to be seen in or about the depot. The depot-master, as well as
the city police, were called upon, and a minute description of the missing man
was given. His flowing locks of raven hue, his long beard as black as
Egyptian darkness, his heavy black beaver overcoat, as well as his cap, were
all described over and over to the officers, and a reward offered for his
arrest or return. The afternoon and night passed; but no tidings. The
telegraph was now brought into use and despatches were sent out over Ohio,
Indiana and Michigan, but to no purpose. They could get no trace of the
missing man. After three or four weeks the doctor returned to find that
Tom had beaten him back by about a week.

But this is not all. On his way back Tom stopped over in Chicago long
enough to interview one of the city papers and secured the publication of an
article in which he went on to recite that while Judge Larcom and Dr. Adam-
son were traveling through Ohio the doctor from some unaccountable reason
suddenly went mad, and the judge was compelled to see him safely locked in
one of the cells of the asylum at Columbus, Ohio. The article closed with a
letter of condolence to the doctor's parents.

Tom's return alone, his many stories and his newspaper articles all con-
spired to make the doctor's friends very uneasy, and when the latter returned
he found they were about to organize for the purpose of investigating Tom's

92 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

reports. They feared that some violence had been done. It was afterwards
ascertained that when Tom gave the doctor the sHp he at once sought out an
obscure barber shop, where he had his hair cut short, and his face smoothly
shaven and exchanged his heavy black overcoat for one of drab color. These
changes were so great that the doctor's description of the lost man would not
apply.

.After Tom's return he was closely watched for several months by his
guardian ; but he finally succeeded in making good his escape. It was re-
ported that he returned to Ohio, where he regained his reason, went into
business and for some years accumulated property, but that he again failed
mentally and was sent to the asylum, where the poor fellow died.

( In tliis connection it may be noted that a number of years later Mrs.
Larcom, widow^ of Tlu)mas, was married here to Moses Hunt, and continued
to reside in the county at Nevada and Collins for the most of her life. She
died just at the end of the year 1910 at the home of her daughter, Mrs.
Alfred Knoll, at Lake Arthur, New Mexico, and she was buried at Collins.)

■■ -■■■■ '-^ig^S^'; : ■<

A PKCri.lAK TRKK XKAH STdliV < ITY

CHAPTER X.
COUx\TY AFFAIRS BEFORE THE WAR.

While the county seat was getting started and the prairie was being taken
up and occupied and the smaller towns were trying to establish a basis for
future growth, the county as a whole was gradually becoming a more definite
quantity. Its politics were becoming established, routes of travel were be-
coming better defined, and much better routes were being most prayerfully
hoped for. The period of this gradual unification of the county will be taken
as extending from about the time of the organization of the county up to
the outbreak of the Civil war. About the middle of this period, the first
newspaper was established ; and the fact that it was not sooner established
may be taken as evidence that the general condition of affairs here was still
very primitive up to January, 1857; and the further fact that the paper first
established continued to be the only paper in the county until after the open-
ing of the Civil war and this, notwithstanding the fact that the time was one
of intense political controversy, as to which the sentiment of the county was
closely divided, and in which the dift'erent elements would naturally have
wished to have their views publicly expressed and presented, goes to show
that even in the second half of the period, there was still abundant oppor-
tunity to hope for future development.

The establisliment of the paper, however, may be taken as an event quite
as important among the various stages of local development as almost any
other of the single matters mentioned. From this time on, there is more of
a record of what the people were doing, and it is easier to get an under-
standing as to what they were thinking about. As one peruses the record, it
is easy to discover that, to a considerable degree, they were thinking about
politics, but Editor Thrall was a very discreet man, and he managed to get
along without unduly manifesting a political bias. He was, in fact, a good
Republican and an anti-slavery man, but he ran the ticket of both parties
impartially in his columns, published both platforms, gave both sides oppor-
tunity for hearing, and probably in a personal way did what he could to
restrain their forms of expression within measurable bounds. At the same
time, he kept well to the front the other matters in which the people of the
county were vitally interested. These matters were, for the most part, of a
general nature ; for it may be borne in mind that all the then existing towns

93

Vol. 1—7

94 HISTORY OF STORY COUXTY

over the county, regardless of the extent of their town plats, were still, and
for a long time afterwards, without municipal incorporations. Indeed, it
was not until 1867 that Nevada was set off as an independent school district,
nor did its incorporation come until 1868. Ames was not on the map until
after the war was over and the railroad had come and its incorporation did
not occur until 1869. The other towns of the county continued to be villages
in a legal sense until long afterwards ; that is, they were portions of territory,
subdivided into lots and showing streets and alleys, but not having municipal
organization ; so the only existing subdivisions of the county, recognized by
law, were the townships, the affairs of which rarely have been subject of con-
siderable controversy.

So in all this period, the county was the organization which was the basis
of most important public doings. Aside from the matter of politics, the im-
portant activities of the jieople and of the resident leaders of local opinion
may have been directed in various directions, but the results were most
manifest in the matter of transportation and of the location of the Iowa
Agricultural College. As to neither of these matters indeed were the im-
mediate results so very im])ortant in their bearing upon tlie conditions in the
county; but as to both of them, action was definitely taken which did. in
time, bring results that have had a great deal to do with the county. Dele-
gates, wlio had been more or less formally or informally commissioned by
the people of the county to co-operate with similar delegates from other
counties and make such arrangements as might be jjracticable for the con-
struction of a railroad, did, in time reach a choice as between corporations
of varying insistence as to their anxiety and ability to build the railroad, if
properly supported, and did definitely commit the ])eople and the county to
the endorsement of the Cedar Rapids and Missouri River Railroad Company
as the organization which should, in time, build a road. The road was not
secured nearly so soon as was hoped for by those who agreed as to the forma-
tion of the company, but the intervention of the Civil war was a matter
which checked the work of constructing railroads, as well as most other
peaceful enterprises ; and the delay wliich was due to this cause affords no
ground for disparagement of the sound judgment of those representative
men who made the alliance on behalf of the county and in behalf of that
particular railroad. The county did not, in fact, get the college until more
than ten years after the location of that institution was determined, but the
efforts which did determine the location were put forward in this period by
people, who were, of course, hoping for more immediate educational results,
but who had to content themselves with the hope and ex])ectation of the
college until such time as the state should be sufficiently free from war
troubles to permit of its carrying out its contract to build a college in the
county. In matters of such moment, however, as the railroad and the col-
lege, it was the present determination and the ultimate success that really
counted ; and it stands to the credit of the county in this period that it did
assure the construction of what was, in time, to be the best trans-continental

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 95

railroad between the Mississippi and the Missouri and the best College of
Agriculture and ^lechanic Arts that there is anywhere. \'iewed in the
light of half a century, the people of Story County in the latter fifties were
wise beyond their day and generation ; and if the matters of common interest
in the county could, in all the intervening years, have been as wisely and
effectively conducted as they were in that time, the greatness of the county
must now have inevitably been much more striking than it is.

As to the railroad, the fundamental fact was that several years before,
congress had made a grant of land for the purpose of aiding in the construc-
tion of four railroads across the state of Iowa ; such railroads to be con-
structed not for the present needs of the new state ; for, in fact, the great
body of the state was not yet sufficiently settled to have any practical needs,
but with a view to encouraging, as rapidly as possible, the settlement of the
state. One of these lines of railroad was to be constructed, as nearly as
practicable on the line of the 42d parallel of north latitude. This parallel
runs very near the middle of the belt of counties east and west in the tier of
which Story County is a part, and, doubtless, the fact that the land grant had
been made and that the new prospective county seats in this belt of counties
were all close enough to the parallel, so that they might confidently expect
in time to secure the railroad, had not a little to do with their location and
with the readiness with which people went far out beyond the ends of exist-
ing lines of transportation and established their homes in such county seats.
Nevada had the full benefit of this assurance; for the 426 parallel is only
about a mile or more south of town, and all of the conditions were favorable
for bringing the railroad to the town whenever it should reach the county.

The land grant was for alternate sections for six miles on each side of
the railroad, or, if those sections should already be taken up, then their
equivalent of public lands in other parts of the state. In fact, the sections
along the prospective line were taken up long before the railroad came, and
the alternatives elsewhere had to be accepted. These lands, at government
prices, were worth $1.25 an acre and their value per mile of road was much
less than the cost of constructing the road. While, therefore, any and every
company that talked about building the road, expected, of course, to have
the land grant, it inevitably demanded further aid. But, beyond the land
grant and any possible local aid. the railroad company which should actually
succeed, had to have a considerable amount of capital of its own ; and the
great and absorbing local and political problem, was to concentrate the re-
sources of the land grant and local support and effective corporate capital,
all in the same concern. This problem was not solved without a great deal of
difficulty. The government having made the land grant to the state for the
purpose indicated, it was, in the first place, for the state to determine what
company should have the chance to make use of it. The state accordingly
conveyed the several land grants to corporations of much promise, the par-
ticular corporation to which was intrusted the duty and responsibility of
building the railroad along the 42d parallel being the Iowa Central Air Line

96 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

Railroad, which railroad is frequent!}- referred to in the early discussions as
the "Iowa Central" and as the "Air Line," and which, of course, had no rela-
tion whatever to the Iowa Central as that name is now applied.

The Air Line was organized as Duhuque ; and its proposal was to make
that city the river point for this line as well as for the line w'hich it was
hoped later to build across the state in the latitude of 42 degrees and 30
minutes, where the Dubuque and Sioux City was originally built and the
Illinois Central is now operated. The lirst and vital condition of this con-
veyance by the state to the Air Line Railroad, was that the railroad company
should actually construct a railroad from Dubuque to Cedar Rapids on or
before the 1st of January, 1859. Concerning the initial arrangement with
this company, there does not appear to have been any violent controversy,
but the com])any in time proved itself not equal to the proposition under-
taken ; in other words, it was not able to work additional money out of the
people or put up money of its own in amounts sufficient for actual construc-
tion. It did alx)Ut thirty miles of grading, but built no railroad. It had at its
eastern terminal a practicable or at least possible connection with the Chicago
and Galena Railroad that had already been built from Lake Michigan to the
Mississippi, and Dubuque political influence was strongly behind the entet-
prise of pushing westward. Possibly, the difficulties of the Air Line may
have been no more than those which are inevitably confronted by men who
at first undertake a great enterprise in a new country ; but the fact is that
their time limit expired and their road was not built.

The management of the company, however, still had hopes, and they did
not yield the field and their claims to the land grant at all readily. They
quit-claimed the .Air Line's title to the expired concession to a new company,
known as the Dubuque, Marion and Western ; and for the support necessary
for the construction of the prospective railroad by this latter company a
most determined political fight was made. People along the route, however,
in the counties most concerned, had generally lost faith in the Air Line and
in the men connected with it. At the same time, the Chicago, Iowa and
Nebraska comjiany. with rather less influence but apparently more capital,
and perhaps under more favoring conditions, was pushing a line westward
from a point on the Mississippi — just below Lyons — and now known as
Clinton, in the direction of Cedar Rapids. In the eyes of the people west of
Cedar Ra])ids, and at Cedar Rapids for that matter, the actual money that
was being put into this piece of road, talked ; and gradually they became
enlisted in the proposition of having the state revoke the conveyance to the
Air Line and make a similar conveyance to the new company wliich should
co-operate with the Chicago, Iowa and Nebraska.

This sentiment culminated in the holding of a railroad convention for
coimties concerncil. at Cedar Rapids, on the i3tii and 14th of June, 1859.
At this convention, there were delegations formally accredited from the
counties of Linn, i'.enton, Tama, Marshall, Story and Greene. It would
api)ear that Boone County should have been represented also, but it appears

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 97

not to have had any man of sufficient enterprise actually to be there. The
delegates accredited by Story County were T. C. McCall, W. J. Graham,
Tohn Scott. Samuel S. Statler. James Hawthorn, E. B. Potter, and George M.
Maxwell. In fact, however, the men in actual attendance are understood to
have been McCall and Hawthorn. Scott and Statler fully expected to be
there, but they went first to Davenport to a meeting of the Masonic Grand
Lodge and were prevented, by a washout, from getting back to Cedar Rapids
in time for the railroad meeting. To McCall and Hawthorn, therefore, it
actually fell, to represent the interests of the county in this meeting, and
they manifestly did so effectively. McCall was a member of the committee
to confer with the railroad representatives, and Hawthorn was elected a
director of the new railroad.

The proceedings of this convention were quite fully published in the
newspapers of the counties along the line, and the reports plainly indicated
that the convention was conducted with much soundness of judgment and
with a determination to reach results. Proposals to organize a new company
were presented early in the discussion, but were side-tracked until the rep-
resentatives of the different companies should be heard from. Such repre-
sentatives were heard both in committee and by the convention as a whole.
The report of the commitee was that the Iowa Central Air Line and its
protege, the Dubuque, Marion and Western, were unable to present any plan
for the actual construction of the road, but that the Chicago, Iowa and
Nebraska would submit a proposition if the occasion should offer. The Air
Line people appear to have put up the best fight they could ; but in the end,
the sentiment was overwhelmingly for the organization of a new company.
To this plan of operation, the eastern capitalists, who were backing the
Chicago, Iowa and Nebraska and at least one of whom became very con-
spicious later as the chief promoter of the Union Pacific, apparently lent
their hearty co-operation ; so the Cedar Rapids and Missouri River Railroad
Company was formally organized, directors were nominated, their names in-
cluded in Articles of Incorporation, and the articles adopted. The eastern
capitalists, whose names headed the directory were John Bertran of Salem,
Mass.; Oakes Ames of Boston; L. B. Crocker of Oswego; and John Went-
worth and Chas. Walker of Chicago; and there was also one director for
each county from Linn to Greene, the director for Story County, as before
noted, being James Hawthorn.

This Cedar Rapids convention was the most important event in a busi-
ness way, that the people of the central tier of counties in Iowa have had
anything to do with. In the ultimate, the plans there formed worked out
successfully. The claims of the Iowa Central Air Line to the government
land grant, were by the general assembly declared to be forfeited, and the
grant was in turn conveyed to the Cedar Rapids and Missouri River Com-
pany. The Chicago, Iowa and Nebraska, whose leading spirit appears to
have been Oakes Ames, was in charge of men who had money and believed
in the exploitation of the country beyond the Mississippi river; and the co-

98 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

operation which it leant to the Cedar Rapids and Missouri River Company
was always in good faith. The road was actually constructed by the com-
pany which was organized for the ])uri)ose of its construction ; and as it was
gotten ready for operation, it was turned over to the Chicago, Iowa and
Nebraska, which operated it. About the time that the work was completed
to the Missouri river, the whole enterprise was reorganized as a part of the
Chicago & Xorth-Western System. These results, however, were not at-
tained without tribulation. The Air Line did not quit its political efforts
merely because it had been beaten at Cedar Rapids. Its own hopes of con-
structing the road in its own name were, of course, at an end when its time
limit expired; but there was nothing in the way of its asking that the land
grant be ne.xt tendered to the Dubuque, Marion and Western for which it
stood sponsor, and the latter company put forth the best endeavors it could
to give the appearance of being entitled to the preference.

Contemporary discussion, however, in pa])ers at both Cedar Rapids and
Dubuque indicates quite clearly that the Air Line was hopelessly insolvent;
and that one object, perhaps the main one, of its efforts in co-operation with
the Dubuque, Marion and Western, was to protect the creditors of the Air
Line, the arrangement being, apparently, that the Marion Company should
assume the obligations of the Air Line in consideration of the relinquish-
ment of the latter's claims to the land grant. What the jjcoiile were con-
cerned in, however, was the construction of a railroad, and to accomplish
this, there were enough difficulties without having to take care of the
creditors of an insolvent concern. When the matter came before the gen-
eral assembly, the Cedar Rajjids and Missouri River Company, with its
financial and popular support, prevailed over the broken down company
from Dubuque and received the vote of the land grant. As before noted,
the war intervened before the road was built, and the ultimate results of
the Cedar Rapids convention were not realized so soon as had been hoped,
but all proved to be will in due season.

Hut more striking even than the successful organization of what was to
be part of the greatest trans-cuntineulal railroad, was the attainment by the
people of the new county in the same year, and indeed in the same month of
June, 1859, of the location of the Iowa State College. The contrast is not in
the relative importance of the two aciiievemcnts ; for it is hardly possible for
anything to be more important to a community like Story than a great rail-
roafl ; but the railroad, or at least some sort of a railroad, was bound to come,
while the college might have gone to any one of a great many other localities,
and might indeed to have been expected almost certainly to go to some lo-
cality in a more settled and better developed portion of the state. \'ery
likely there were some favoring conditions that are not now very apparent;
ami indeed if there had not been .some such conditions, it is impossible now
to understand how success should actually have been achieved; but there
certainly were no conditions poiiuing this way so strongly that the college and
farm could have possibly been located here if there had not been most ex-

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 99

ceptional and strenuous endeavors here to secure it. Conditions which may
now be imagined to have been favoring were that under the constitution of
the state which had been adopted in 1857, the state capitol had been fixed at
Des Moines and the state university estabhshed at Iowa City. The eastern
part of the state thus having what was expected to be the leading state educa-
tional institution, and the most important county in the interior being rec-
ognized with the state capitol, the location of the college and farm, if there
were to be one, appears in a sense to have been something to be fairly con-
tested for by the minor counties in the interior of the state. Indeed that
seems to have been the view taken ; for, as the matter of the location prog-
ressed, the counties which proved to be the strongest contestants were Polk,
Stor\' and Hardin, Polk apparently insisting upon the now widely recognized
principle that Polk county is entitled to anything it can get, and Hardin be-
cause it really was in ]5osition to meet the conditions suggested.

Story county, in this critical time, seems to have been fortunate in hav-
ing as its first member of the General Assembly elected from within its own
borders, a young man who lived here long, and never afterwards filled any
important office, but who always showed himself to be very persistent con-
cerning matters to which he gave his attention. This young legislator was
John L. Dana of Nevada, a young lawyer who had located here about 1856,
and who in 1857 was elected the state representative for the counties of
Story. Hardin and Grundy. It was during the ensuing session of the general
assembly that the act was passed to recognize in an educational sense the
dominant interest of the state by locating, with a view to ultimate establish-
ment, an agricultural college and farm. However much or little Mr. Dana
himself may have had to do with the passage of this bill, he certainly lost no
opportunity to promote the location in this county of the institution which
was thus proposed to be established.

The legislative act in question appropriated $10,000 for the purchasing of
a farm and nominated a board of trustees, consisting of one member from
each of the eleven judicial districts of the state, to conduct its affairs and
make the location. A bonus was expected from the county that should act-
ually secure the location ; and in the ultimate, the determination became
largely one of the generosity of this bonus. One of the trustees so appointed,
doubtless at the instance of Mr. Dana, was E. G. Day of Story County and
of Nevada, whose presence on the board was unquestionably a material
factor in the ultimate determination. The question of securing the institu-
tion, however, did not become an active one until the following Christmas
on which day a public meeting was appointed at the court house in Nevada
to give form and impetus to the enterprise. The meeting was very success-
ful, and a committee, consisting of W. G. Allen, J. L. Dana, T. C. McCall,
John Scott, and Judge E. C. Evans, was appointed to represent the interests
of the county before the locating board. To back the committee properly,
George A. Kellogg, then county judge, was petitioned to call an election for
the purpose of voting $10,000 bonds in aid of the college, whicli election was

100 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

held on the "th of February, 1859. a"«i resuhed ahnost unanimously in
favor of the bonds. Concerning all that happened between this time and the
actual vote of the trustees making the election, there is much obscurity ; but
the Story County i)tople very soon found out that the $10,000 alone would
not secure the institution.

It became, therefore, a matter of necessity to support the public donation
with private liberality, and such support was, in fact, very generously given ;
although the individual resources of the people at the time were undoubtedly
limited. The support thus given, however, was not yet sufficient for the pur-
pose, and it is known that Mr. Dana reached Dan McCarthy's one evening
from Des Moines, with the advice that, "Something more had got to be
done." Just what more, and how much more, was done, and how it was
accomplished, it would be difficult now accurately to tell, but somehow, the
conditions were met, and the choice which had seemed to be almost certain
to be in favor of Hardin or Polk was ultimately made in favor of Story by
a vote of six to four. In the endeavors to reach a favorable conclusion, the
private donations of the Story County people had been pushed above the
donation of the county as a whole. The entire amount of botii public and
private donations exceeding $21,000. The donation and the activity of the
citizens, however, were not the whole case in favor of the location that was
tmally made. In the act for establishing the institution, it had been specified
that there should be variety of soils and of other conditions so that the farm
to be located should be typical of as many different sections and interests of
the state as possible. As a matter of fact, the ground chosen is exceptional
for Story County in tlie variety of its local conditions. The ponds which
were originally so numerous in various parts of the county, are not notice-
able in that immediate vicinity. There was timber and prairie, bottom land
and up land, a considerable stream and abundant water supply. Tiie condi-
tions of the act were fully met, and the enterprise of tlie i)eoplc was very
exceptional.

In this connection, it is to be observed that the effort to secure the college
and farm was strictly a county matter and not a west side proposition. The
local division which had been apparent among the squatters at the first elec-
tion for the organization of the county, had entirely disappeared, and the
committee which was appointed to represent the county was wholly a Nevada
committee. The fact that from such beginnings and under such management,
the institution should have been located on the west side of the county has
been sometimes a matter of wonderment. Certainly it has appeared to show
a spirit of unselfishness in the county seat, and also it has suggested an ap-
parent lack of foresight on the part of citizens of the county seats. The
facts appear to warrant the conclusion that the Nevada men acted in the
matter with the best judginent that was possible and from most commendable
motives ; although the truth undoubtedly does stand out that, by their action,
they made it possible later on for a rival town to get started.

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 101

Two conditions operated against the hopes which were undoubtedly en-
tertained to have the college and farm located in the immediate vicinity of
Nevada. One was that the country around Nevada was too flat and had
too rnany ponds and did not offer the required variety of soil. The other was
that Story County, in its endeavors to secure the institution, was receiving
some important political support from Boone County, and that this sup-
port was conditioned upon the institution being located in that portion of
Story County which was most accessible to the people of Boone County.
Also, Nevada had from the beginning of the county, up to that time been
so nearly the whole thing in all the general affairs of the county, and the
matter of eight, ten or fifteen miles was yet regarded so lightly by the
people in the estimating of neighborhood relations, that probably it did
not very seriously occur to the people here that the institution they were
securing witliin ten miles could reasonably be regarded or regard itself
as other than a Nevada institution. At any rate, the people of Nevada
went heartily into the enterprise, pushed the vote of public funds and the sub-
scription of private funds, and gave their most earnest and successful polit-
ical endeavors toward the location of the college and farm in Story County.

The decision to locate the college had been indicated by a vote of the
trustees on the 21st of June, 1859, and was formally entered on the follow-
mg day, the 22d. The news, of course, spread rapidly in the vicinity of the
prospective institution, and public interest in the institution became very
alert in both Story and Boone Counties. The first manifestation of this
interest was an almost spontaneous agreement to hold on the location
selected a celebration of the approaching Fourth of July. The consequence
was the holding on what is now the college campus of the most notable cele-
bration, up to that time in the county, of National Independence. It was,
of course, before the days of railroads, and the only transportation to the
place was by wagon or on horseback; but the people of Boone and Story
Counties both took proper interest, and especially the people of Nevada
and Boonsborough. Very numerous delegations went from both towns,
and were joined from all about, by as great a concourse of people as the
population of the country would warrant. Showers fell while the delega-
tions were on their way, but nothing dampened their ardor, and they ar-
rived in full force at the scene, the Nevada delegation arriving before that
from Boonsborough.

The celebration was organized with James Phelan of Boone as presi-
dent, and the Declaration of Independence was read by Paul A. Queal of
Nevada. John A. Hull of Boonsborough was orator of the day, and Col.
Scott of Nevada, the other principal speaker. While this speaking was in
progress, a picnic dinner was being spread, which was very greatly enjoyed,
as such occasions are supposed to be enjoyed. Following the dinner, there
were toasts to "The Day We Celebrate," by John A. Hull ; "The American
Flag," by Mr. Guinn of Boone; "The Memory of Washington," by John
Scott of Nevada; "The Heroes of the Revolution," by P. A. Queal; "The

lO'J HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

State Agricultural College and l'"arin." by J. L. Uana ; "The President of
the United States (Buchanan)." by J. S. Frazier; the "Army and Navy,"
by Jeremiah Marks of Nevada, who was also marshal of the day; "Our
^^others and Sisters." by R. D. Coldren of Story; "The Hawkeye State,"
by .Mr. Rallinger of Boone, the father, we suppose, of the lately retired
Secretary of the Interior, in President Taft's Cabinet ; "The Commissioners
of the F'armers' College." by E. G. Day ; "The Farmers of Iowa." by Mr.
Foster of Boone ; "The Rising Generation, the Hope of the World, and a
Mighty Sure Crop in the Hawkeye State." by Prof. Brunning of Boons-
borough.

This celebration was a great success. The common rejoicing over the
securing of the college serving doubtless to ameliorate political asperities
of the time. The chairman of the committee on arrangements at this
celebration was Dan McCarthy of Washington Township, whose special
pleasure and honor it was fifty years afterwards, as will later be noted,
to be president of the day and general master of ceremonies at a Fourth
of July celebration on the same ground in 1909. At this celebration, the
orator was John A. Hull. Jr.. of Boone, son of the orator of fifty years
before, and a very great multilude from Story and Boone Counties joined
witii quite a number of the original celebrators in the felicitations over the
event of July 4, i<S59.

CHAPTER XI.

COUNTY AFFAIRS BEFORE THE WAR— (CONTINUED).

The politics of the county, as has been before noted, was in the first
instance, strictly local, and Skunk River Township, with its 37 votes out-
voted Indian Creek Township with its 27 votes in the original county elec-
tion, held on April 4, 1853. Elections in those days came on quite fre-
quently, and the next election was held in August of the same year, with
apparently not so much of controversy, and consequently with a smaller
\ote; for notwithstanding the fact that unquestionably many settlers had,
in the meantime, come into the county, less than 60 votes were cast for
anv office, and the successful candidates were John J. Zenor for sheriff;
Otho French for surveyor; R. H. Robinson for coroner; Adolphus Prouty
for drainage commissioner and Stephen P. O'Brien for school fund com-
missioner. Of these officers elected, Zenor and O'Brien were west-siders,
while French. Robinson and Prouty were east-siders. In the following
April, there was another election for school fund commissioner, and T. E.
Alderman was elected over S. P. O'Brien by a vote of 59 to 43. In August
of 1854, Judge Evans was again elected county judge over Adolphus Prouty
by a vote of 66 to 36. Austin Prouty defeated Nathaniel Jennings for clerk
by 58 to 51, and E. H. French was elected without opposition both prose-
cuting attorney and surveyor. In August of 1855, Evans was again elected
county judge by 198 votes to 40 for J. H. McLain, and 12 for J. P. Robin-
son ; J. C. Moss also had a large majority for county treasurer, as did D.
J. Norris for surveyor, and R. Hackley for coroner, but Zenor for sheriff,
had only six majority over Geo. Child. In April, 1856, E. G. Day was
elected clerk, practically without opposition ; John J. Bell was elected school
fund commissioner over S. S. Webb, both being democrats. In August of
the same year, Wm. Thompson defeated E. G. Day for clerk, and J. S.
Frazier was elected prosecuting attorney. In April, 1857, Isaac Romaine
was elected county assessor over W. G. Allen, and T. E. x^lderman and
I. T. Evans had a tie vote for drainage commissioner, while J. W. Cessna
was elected coroner over W. G. Boswell, by a small majority. In this year
the new constitution of the state was adopted, and the practice of holding
two elections a year was discontinued, save that there was a special elec-
tion for school superintendent, in the spring of 1858. Prior to that time,

103

104 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

however, in August, 1857. Geo. A. Kellogg had been elected county judge
over E. B. Fenn, Judge Evans not being this time a candidate. W'ni.
Lockridge was elected recorder and treasurer over Ed. Schoonover. Geo.
Child was elected sheriff over \V. B. Sweeney, and R. H. Mitchell was
elected surveyor over D. J. Norris. Kellogg and Lockridge were dem-
ocrats, and their party was gradually getting control of the county, the
original rivalries of personal preference yielding to those of political align-
ment. In the April election of 1858, this political condition was further
manifested in the election of Geo. M. Maxwell as superintendent of schools
by 331 votes to 289, for A. G. Shaw, republican; and in the October fol-
lowing, S. S. Webb, democrat, was elected clerk over D. P. Ballard by 339
to 319. These were both clear cut democratic victories, and there was no
mistaking the political situation in the county.

In 1859, however, there came the closest and hardest political fight that
was ever engaged in by the two leading political parties of the county.
Both sides put up strong candidates, particularly for the more important
offices. The republicans again nominated Evans for judge and the dem-
ocrats renominated Kellogg. The democrats nominated Sam S. Statler
for treasurer, he being then deputy under Lockridge ; and the republicans
nominated T. J. Ross, who was a young merchant at Iowa Center. The
republicans renominated Geo. Child for sheriff and the democrats nominated
H. B. Young. Also there was the wannest kind of a legislative fight.
The senatorial district then consisted of Hardin, Story, Hamilton and
Boone Counties, and the representative district, of Story and Hamilton.
The legislative conventions of both parties were held at Nevada, and the
situation here in the county was thoroughly developed. The republican
nominee for senator was John Scott of Story County ; the democrat nomi-
nee, Henry B. Huff of Hardin. The representative candidates were S.
B. Rosenkranz of Hamilton and VV. J. (Iraham of Story. The candidates
for governor that year were Samuel J. Kirkwood on the republican side,
and Augustus Caesar Dodge, the last territorial delegate and one of the
first senators of the state and always an idol of democracy, on the other
side. The time was one of intense political excitement everywhere, and
Mr. Thrall's endeavor to hold down the jmlitical discussions through the
columns of his i)aper, were only moderately successful.

In the ultimate, the republicans clcclcil their entire ticket; but they
knew they had had a fight. Kirkwood's majority was 2i7 '" t'lc county.
Scott, who was running against an outsider, climbed up to 49. In the case
of the former being an outsider and Graham a local resident, Rosenkranz
and Graham, being outsiders, the former's majority in the county was 3,
although Hamilton County added a little to this majority. Evans ousted
Kellogg by a majority of 12, and Ross led Statler by 10. Child led the local
ticket with 23, while Reese for superintendent had 6. It was a
period of straight voting, and the side that could get the largest number
of its followers to the election, elected its ticket.

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 105

Preliminary to this election, especial notice should be given of the nomi-
nation of Scott for senator. This was the first notable victory by any
citizen of the county in a convention of several counties. Scott had been
a candidate the year before for the nomination for district judge, but had
been defeated by Porter of Hardin, who made an effective combination
with Col. Hepburn of Marshall, for district attorney. In the senatorial
convention of the republicans at Nevada, Hardin gave its 14 votes to Win-
chester of that county and Boone its 7 to Chas. Pomeroy of that county,
while Scott had 8 from Storj' and 5 from Hamilton. In the ultimate, the
Boone vote was turned to Scott and nominated him ; but before that, there
was an apparent mixing of senatorial and representative politics, that may
have had much to do with Hamilton's support of Scott. The representa-
tive convention of the two counties, of Story and Hamilton, was held here
the same day, being composed largely of the same men as the senatorial
delegations from those counties, and the 5 delegates from Hamilton being
in the representative convention at the mercy of the 8 from Story. Dana
wanted a renomination for representative, but he had antagonized Scott in
the judicial convention of the year before, and the latter, who was now in
control of both delegations, had no hesitation in winning the senatorship
with the help of Hamilton, at the price of conceding the representative
nomination to Hamilton. So the Hamilton delegation, as stated, supported
Scott in the senatorial convention ; but in the representative convention, the
agreement evidently went no further than that Story should give two votes
to a Hamilton County man. The Hamilton delegates were not agreed upon
a candidate, and it was some time before Rosenkranz was nominated. This
matter is of interest as being the first instance of real convention politics,
in which Story County is known to have figured with any success.

This senatorial convention was, by all odds, the most important polit-
ical gathering that was held in Story County prior to the Civil war, and
perhaps the most important that was ever actually held in the county. Its
nominee was elected by about 150 majority, but only as the result of a fight
through the four counties of the district. The nature of this fight is il-
lustrated effectively by the resolutions of the senatorial convention, which
resolutions express the sentiment of the prevailing side in the county and
the district, and are therefore, under all the circumstances, fairly to be
taken as the most authoritative voicing of Story County political sentiment,
upon the first occasion when the county may fairly be said to have had clearly
defined politics. The resolutions are as follows :

"Having an abiding faith in the integrity and stability of republican in-
stitutions and believing it was the design of the framers and those who
adopted the federal constitution that it should constitute the organic law of
a government founded in justice, and looking solely to the interests of the
people — that it was not expected by them that this government would be
turned into a machine of corruption and fraud, in letting contracts and
selling property — that it was not their intention that slavery should disgrace

106 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

ever)' state and territory under tlie American Hag; and it never was in-
tended by our political fathers that the federal constitution should en-
hance or encourage the interests of slavery :

"Therefore, as the tendency and inevitable result of the principles and
practice of the present democratic party are to inflict all these evils upon
this nation,

"Resolved, that in view of the approaching election of i860 and in con-
sideration of the effect this campaign will have upon the result then, success
is our bounden duty ; and we will use every honorable means to secure the
triumph of our princi])les, believing that success is a duty we owe to our-
selves, our country and our God."

One incident of this campaign deserves here particular mention and
is of permanent interest for several reasons: The beginning of this in-
cident, as it shows in the record, was the nomination in the democratic
county convention of Jonas Duea of what is now Howard Township, for
the office of drainage commissioner. .Xs the matter is now understood,
the office was not a very important one. The holder of it had a general
authority to settle disputes between the man up the stream who wanted
to run the water off of his land, and the man down the stream who was
likely to get the water; and certainly, from all that is known of the country
at that time and from what has been done to it since and is being done
now, there might have been enough for the drainage commissioner to do;
but the fact was that the country had not yet progressetl far enough to
give any systematic attention to the drainage subject; and the nomination
to the office of drainage commissioner was therefore, essentially a com-
plimentary matter; but during the months and years immediately preced-
ing this campaign, the Norwegians had begun coming into the o.unlv. and
while some of them came direct from Norway and had not l)een naturalized
as yet. the most had made a stopi)ing place in Illinois and had been in the
country long enough to have acquired their papers of citizenship. In a
campaign which, as alreaily noted, was ultimately to be determined by
majorities ranging from 6 to 23. a bunch of votes such as already e.xisted
m the north and south Norwegian settlements, might well be a matter of
vital consideration, and it is to be recorded on behalf of the democrats in
this county, that they made, as noted, the first formal liid for the Xorwcgian
support.

The bid was not very high, but the iiarticttlar .Vorwegian complimented
was indeed the one first to be considered in the matter of visiting recognition
of this order. Jonas Duea was then a comparatively young luan. but he
had been the leading .spirit of the committee sent out from Illinois to
pick, in this jiart of Iowa, a suitable jilacc for a Norwegian colony; and
when the Committee i)icke(l what is now known as Howard Township,
and was then the east half of Lafayette, and when the colony, in fact,
came and the settlement was made, -Mr. Duea was justly regarded as the
leader of the settlement; but the democratic plan did not work, and the

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 107

fact that it did not work is undoubtedly one explanation why the republi-
cans carried the election and established their lasting supremacy in the
county. Mr. Duea had not been in Nevada at the time the nomination was
made ; but he, of course, learned of it soon after, and in the next issue of
the Story County Advocate, he published a card declining the nomination.
His declaration was emphatic ; and insomuch as his political sentiment
therein expressed was undoubtedly the sentiment of his associates in the set-
tlement, his expression may now be taken as the first authoritative announce-
ment to the people of Story County of the politics of the Norwegian settle-
ment. Mr. Duea dated his card at Story City, September 14th, and he said:
"Editor Advocate: You will please do me the favor if you please,
to publish the following card. I notice that the democrats in this county
in convention have nominated me for the office of drainage commissioner.
It is a pity that they should have taken so much trouble to place me in
such a position. I am not flattered by their notice. I am a republican,
and I hereby notify the public that I am a candidate for no office, and
would not accept one from the democrats. I would not change my politics
for any office in the county, to say nothing of the petty trick or bribe that
they have attempted. I love freedom and will support the party that I
think does the same." Signed, "Jonas Duea."

Not to be one sided in citations of political expressions of this cam-
paign, it is worth while to quote a paragraph from a letter published in
the Story County Advocate and written from Iowa Center, by one who
subscribes himself as "One of the Old Guards." The reader may, at the
start, have a little difficulty in comprehending what was regarded by this
veteran as the main issue of the campaign ; but further on he will discover
that the main grievance was the conduct of the state government under the
republican regime, which was then about five years old, and which had
been signalized by the addition of other state institutions, to the peniten-
tiary, that had been the one state institution wlien the republicans came into
power in the state. Whether the estimate of the amount of the state debt
is entirely correct, we have some doubts ; but the sentiments expressed
were sustained in the ensuing election by a political force that lacked but
a few votes of having a majority in the County. The spokesman for the
Old Guard said :

WHAT THE "old GU.^RD" SAID.

"Fellow democrats, are you aware that you are on the eve of a guber-
natorial election? Are you aware that on the nth of October next, you
are to measure strength with your old inveterate enemy? That enemy,
ever changing in name, consistent only in its opposition to the ever onward
march of democracy. Yes, on Tuesday the nth of October next, you will
be called upon to exercise the high prerogative of Freemen ; to sit in judg-
ment, as jurors, on the acts of high functionaries — your servants — who
have abused the power which a generous and confiding constituency en-

108 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

trusted to their hands. Are you ready for the conflict? If not, begin now
to get ready — brush up your old rusty armor, bucl<le on your harness, and
prepare to strike another blow for your country. It will be no child's
play for the enemy will die hard — it will be such a scene as occurs but
once in an age, when men fight for their country, their altars and their
fires. Remember that 'Eternal vigilance is the price of Liberty.' — 'Have
you hitherto spoken in whispers, speak now, as the tempest speaks, sterner
and stronger.'

"Fathers, here is a field, for you to labor in, worthy of your proudest
palmiest days. We want your counsel and your votes. We want your
influence in redeeming our loved and beautiful state from republican mis-
rule. Your gray hairs will be a proud banner to light the younger democ-
racy on to victory. .\nd, to the young but lion-hearted democracy I would
say, arouse; your country demands your help; be active, be vigilant; stir up
your lukewarm neighbor — tell him an opportunity is now presented to rid the
state and countv of a set of leeches, who are fattening on their life's blood
— prove by your acts, that you are not degenerate scions of a revolutionary
stock. Are incentives to action wanted? Tell them that our state debt
under democratic rule was only $70,000, and it is now over $500,000; tell
them that the republican officials have trampled the constitution of the
state under their feet by running the state into debt over $250,000; tell
them that the republicans squandered the people's money ; tell them that
the republicans spent more money in 1857 — yes, in one single year, than
the democrats did in eight years. Tell them that we now have to pay to
keep the wheels of government in motion, interest annually, as much into
$5,000 as it took to carry on the government under a democratic administra-
tion! Tell them that Gen. Dodge, our standard bearer, has pledged him-
self to strike down the corruption and favoritism instituted by Governor
Grimes & Co. ; and tell them too, that the republican party, say that 'our
taxes are not too high ! ! !' Tell them we have a ticket composed of men
fully up to the Jeffersonian standard, "honest, capable, and faithful to the con-
stitution,' and we look to them with an abiding confidence for their support,
believing that when the sun shall rise on the morning of the 1 ith of October
next, and the democratic clarion shall sound to the charge, every man
shall be at his post, bringing with him the aged and infirm, that their
hearts may once more be gladtlened with an oppcrtunity to battle in the
cause of their country.

"Remember that a day, an hour of virtin)us liberty is worth a whole
eternity of bondage. Do your duty, fellow democrats, your whole duty —
vote early, and then see your neighbors; assist them to the polls and when
the sun shall set you will not have occasion to regret your supineness and
apathy, but, on the contrary you will be seen returning from a well fought
field, bearing aloft with stalwart hands the time honored standard of
democracy, not a star dimmed, nor a stripe defaced — singing the glad song,
Iowa is redeemed !

"one of the old gu.\rds."

PrHIJC LIBKAKV, AMKS

CHAPTER XII.
COUNTY AFFAIRS BEFORE THE WAR— (CONCLUDED).

It has been noted in connection with the indictment of Barnabas Lowell
for the murder of his wife, that the first session of the district court in the
county was held by Judge McKay of Des Moines, at the home of County
Judge Evans, on the western border of what is now Milford Township,
on September 24, 1853. The second term was held in Nevada in the fol-
lowing year, and is understood to have been held in a new store build-
ing that was built for a stranger, who contracted for it, but did not re-
turn to pay for it, on the corner immediately north of the present court
house site, and that was later removed to the location west of the city park.
In the course of this year, the first court house was built, under the ad-
ministration of Judge Evans as county judge, on the corner where the
Lockridge residence now stands, southwest of the court house block, and
this building was from that time occupied for the purposes of the county,
as well as for a public hall, sometimes for a school, and for various other
public uses, until its destruction by fire in the early morning of January
I, 1864. Judge McKay did not continue long in the judicial service, but
was succeeded by Judge Cave J. McFarland of Boone.

Judge McFarland was a member of a family that were then and have
for the most of the time since, been prominent in Boone affairs, and he
was a representative upon the bench of the early democratic regime in
this portion of the state. He was a man of whom many stories were told,
and it is evident that he was a very striking character. That he was of
judicial temperament, probably never would have been claimed for him ;
but in a rough and ready, and distinctly frontier fashion, he administered
justice as he regarded it, without very much attention to form of law.
One story is of his meeting the sheriff^ on the road with an admitted horse
thief, from whom he then and there accepted a plea of guilty, without the
formality of an indictment by the grand jury, and whom he forthwith
committed to the penitentiary for a five year sentence, which the un-
fortunate horse thief duly served. Another story is of his suspending
court to go out and shoot a covey of prairie chickens that were seen through
the window to fly up from the prairie. His capacity for the absorption of
intoxicating liquors was large, and he is credited with having taxed it well

Vol. 1—8

106

110 HISTORY OF STOR^■ COUNTY

to the limit ; Init this was a habit that in those days was more readily toler-
ated by public sentiment than would be its exercise in similar situations
now. Xotwithstanding his own attitude on the liquor question, the judge
instructed a grand jury that they were not responsible for the law. and
that it was their business to bring in indictments against any one selling
li(iuiir, closing witli tlic reminder that there was plenty of liiiuor l)eing sold
in town. He was always accomjjanied by his dog and gun in journeying
from one county seat to another ; and upon his arrival in town, or upon his
return to town after an early adjournment of court, there would be a
liberal distribution of chickens. He was more distinctly tyjiical of the
mixture of frontier standards with the forms of official |)rocedure, as un-
derstood in old settled communities, than any other one man whose name
has come down from thai period in this county. lUit the habits which
characterized him and which have secured for him so definite a place in
the county's history, so undermined his constitution that he did not live
out his term, but died at an early age.

The early comer in the county had undoubtetUy the jiropcr interest in
the matters of religion, but. distinctly church edifices were not erected
in any number until the county had progressed considerably in ])0]Mdation
and material development. The first church in Nevada was built in 1855
by general co-operation, at the solicitation of the organization of Cum-
berland Presbyterians. It was located on the w'est side of Elm street
betw-een First and Second avenues south. That particular church organi-
zation, however, proved to have the most of its eflfective strength in the
Mullen settlement and after a time the church property was disposed of
and a new church built by the congregation at the center of Nevada Town-
ship. The second church was at Iowa Center; and the Norwegians very
early built a Lutheran church in the vicinity of Huxley and another about
1862, a mile east of Story City. The number of churches in this period,
however, was not indicative of the amount of preaching. A church, in a
sense, is an evidence of wealth as well as religion, but religious services
would be and were held in the school houses, court house and other edi-
fices that would serve for the purpo.se.

In the i)ioneer days, there was no denomination more active among
the settlers on the frontier, wherever that frontier might be, than the
Methodist church, and the Methodist circuit riders were very early in the
county or on its borders. Rev. John Parker conducted services at Iowa
Center on I'cbruary 24. 1835. ami in 1836 a quarterly conference was held
in the Parker neighborhood between Nevada and Cambridge. Re%. J. E.
Hestwood being the pastor in charge. Mr. 1 1 est wood appears to be re-
garded as really the Father of Methodism in Story County; as he was
the first minister to take up the work of that church definitely in this field.
He was himself the son of a Methodist minister, and one of four brothers
who engage<l in the same profession. He lived until .\pril. 1908. and the
Northwestern Christian Advocate, in an obituary notice, says: '"Indian

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 111

trails enabled him to make the journeys around his next circuit, the Story
mission, which was 53 miles long and 30 miles wide. In each of these
charges, the parsonage was a log cabin built by him. The Story mission
circuit allowctl him to be 36 hours at home each week during the year.
These are samples of his strenuous pioneer life. He and others like
minded gave Methodist tone to Iowa in the early days," Mr. Hestwood
was a man who left a strong impression on the people who knew him ;
but it was not until after the Civil war that the churches he founded, even
in Nevada, built a church edifice of their own. Similarly, the Presby-
terians built their first church at Nevada, after the war; but it was not
until some time later yet, that the Catholics became sufficiently numerous
to put upon a definite footing their churches at Nevada and Colo.

Notwithstanding, the more or less primitive conditions of the time which
we are now considering, it is to be recorded of the people of this com-
munity that they did what the present generation finds it difficult satis-
factorily to keep doing; that is, they held a county fair. This fair was
held at Nevada in October, 1859, very shortly following the close of the
political contest of that year ; the state election then being held on the
second Tuesday in October. The livestock exhibit was about two blocks
west of the present court house, and the in-doors exhibit was in the old
court house. It is recorded that there were altogether 114 entries, and
that the fair was a decided success, and went ofif better than the most
sanguine had expected ; that the ladies' department was far superior to
calculations, and that none supposed that such an array of fine articles
was to be found in the county ; also that the display of horses was ex-
cellent, and so was the cattle. The editor of that time further notes that,
it being the first attempt at anything of the kind, there was great timidity in
regard to bringing better stock or produce ; — which last expression dem-
onstrates that the original editor was called upon to set an example, which
his successors have often found occasion to imitate, of apologizing for
the very numerous class of people in the county who might bring exhibits
to the county fair and do not do so.

After Barnabas Lowell had been duly disposed of for the murder of
iiis wife in 1853, the county appears to have been singularly fortunate as
to matters of criminal proceedure ; for, while there were doubtless the
usual number of lesser crimes and while horse-stealing was a practice from
which the people more or less suiTered and for which they were occasionally
able to inflict due punishment, yet it was not until near the close of the
Civil war period that the county had occasion for a second murder trial.
In the matter of accidents, however, the story is not so gratifying. A
daughter of Henry Bailey was killed by lightning in Nevada, and Major
Hawthorn's eldest daughter was struck at the same time, but recovered.

The most shocking of accidents, however, pertained to prairie fires.
Tradition is to the effect that the modern inhabitant of the well grazed
country, has no conception of the great mat of grass that could be accu-

112 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

mulated on the surface of the prairie when there was nothing to remove
it excepting an occasional fire. Under such conditions, fires once started,
progressed rapidly and were likely to sweep all that was before them. The
one successful way to fight one of the fires that was well started, was
by starting a back fire, and the back fires themselves sometimes proved to
be nearly as dangerous as the original fires. It was from one of these
back fires that came the first death that is reported in the local paper, as
having been occasioned in the county, at least, after the local newspaper
had been started. This death was of a six year old daughter of Peter
Larson of Lafayette Township, who in November, 1859, was caught in
a back fire, that was started by a neighbor woman to fight a greater fire,
which the little girl and her mother had been helping to fight. The little
girl was burned to death. Much more notable, however, was the destruc-
tion of John Swearingen and his family of a wife and four children, to-
gether with their team and dog on the prairie in the northern part of Mil-
ford Township. This disaster will be further noted in connection with
reminiscences of persons in the neighborhood, later on, but the incident is
to be here noted as one that greatly stirred the people of the county. Mr,
Swearingen was a brother of one of the earlier Methodist circuit riders
in this county, and he was bound with his family for his new location
west of Webster City. It was in the fall of i860, they were overtaken
by a fire which had started down in Grant Township, and which swept
for many miles northward across the prairie. He was in the wagon asleep
when the fire overtook them ; and before he could get his family out of
the w-agon, he and his wife were both knocked down by the excited horses;
and. when he recovered himself, there was nothing he could do for his
family but to watch them burn, and he himself died from his injuries ten
days later.

Of the general appearance of the country, in the latter fifties, we have
a couple of editorial expressions from the editor of the .Advocate, the
one pertaining to a trip for a week and spent with friends at Johnson's
Grove in July of 1859. At that time, he advises us. there were several fine
farms, both on the prairie and near Hast Indian creek, along the route.
Mr. James C. Lovell's prairie farm and frame residence were sightly and
made the passer-by think that comfort is located there with thrift. J, P.
Pool's farm was in a beautiful location and his crops looked very promis-
ing, it being situated on the east side of the creek. Micah French's man-
sion was seen to the southward on a coTumanding elevation, attracting the
attention of the traveler. Mr. Watt Muri)liy had a good farm, imnicdiately
east of Mr. Pool's, but his growing crops generally were not quite so for-
ward. To the northeast of Mr. Mur])hy's was past John Counihan's place,
situated in the southeast corner of the grove, and well sheltered from the
northwest winds. The crops appeared as good as any observed. In the
distance were noticed Page's, Kelley's, O'Niel's, anil other gentleman's
farms in the northeast portinn of Johnson's Grove, Situated in a pleasant

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 113

nook was the domicile of his host, whom he seems to have neglected to
name. All around it was beautiful scenery, on the northwest fine timber,
while on the east and south was a vast and rich prairie, slightly descend-
ing southward. At his friend's hospitable mansion, he found good cheer
and pleasant company, and the following morning, he attended Sabbath
school and listened to a sermon by Rev. Swearingen in the afternoon at
the school house. This was a comfortable frame building, occupying a
pleasant location.

Also the editor made a trip across the country to Webster City and
back by the way of Homer. Homer was correctly referred to in his
report as being "nearly finished." This village was immediately east of
the county line between what are now Hamilton and Webster counties and
near the fork of the Des Moines and Boone rivers. Its location had been
very promising at the time when Boone and Webster counties were a
single county under the name of Webster; for Homer was the county seat
of the consolidated county, with all the prospects legitimately pertaining
to the center of 32 or more congressional townships of undeveloped but
prepossessing prairie; but when the counties were divided and two new
county seats established, then the hopes of Homer declined, and the visit-
mg editor was ready to anticipate its final demise as early as July, 1857.

On this trip. Editor Thrall stopped at Story City, where he found his
friend Morganson at his counter ready for customers ; though troubled
with a bad felon on his finger, yet in good, jovial spirits as was his wont.
He appeared to be doing a good, big business in the way of catering to
the wants of his customers. Thence he entered upon the long territory
which commenced at this point, and was soon out of Story. Hamilton
county, though a fine country as far as was observed, was not, in the
editor's opinion, quite so good as Story in several respects. Where broken,
Hamilton was the more broken, and where level was more so than Story.
Webster City was found to be a thriving business town of some one hun-
dred inhabitants. No county buildings had yet been erected. There was
a fine tavern, several stores, and at the office of the Hamilton Freeman,
which was already established, he found Mr. Aldrich, the publisher. It
was a good office, and the publisher was reported as doing a fair busi-
ness, and appeared to be a whole-souled gentleman. Homer, he found,
as noted, to be nearly finished, and he there visited Judge Smith at the
Cottage House. Mr. Almsteed had a fine house at Saratoga, six miles east
of Homer, where a short stop was made. The crops looked fine along
the whole route, though the corn along Skunk river seemed the most
forward of any. Wheat and oats were being cut on several farms. The
Norwegians were settling along the road, and they appeared to be good
farmers. Over 50 of them had settled in the county during the season.

Along in May, 1858, there was another and quite surprising evidence
that the county was progressing ; for the editor reports, without any evidence
of excitement, however, on his own part, that considerable excitement had

114 HISTORY OF STORY COUXTY

been raised in town on the previous Saturday by the announcement that
gold had been (hscovercd in the creek just west of town, and quite a num-
ber had hurried with pan< and shovels to the diggings. The editor procured
all the specimens said to be discovered that he could find, and. after test-
ing, discovered that he had ten specimens of brass and two of gold. The
editor reached tlie conclusion that there might be gold in Iowa, but he
was inclined to believe that it could only be found in the soil, and that
only b)' using plow, shovel and hoe industriously on the rich prairies.

There is also, in this same time, the suggestion that the Eldorado in
the west which the emigrant was ever seeking, was being looked for
farther westward than the residents on the yet only partially settled prairies
of Iowa thought to he necessary. The Advocate quotes on this subject,
from the Daveni)ort Gazette, to the regretful effect that the excitement
for the far west was tremendous, and emigrants and others were over-
looking some of the very best lands in the whole northwestern country,
when they left the fine lands of Iowa to go to Kansas and Nebraska be-
cause the excitement was there ; for lands in Iowa and Illinois could be
bought cheaper by 25 per cent tlum in the territories, meaning Kansas and
\ebraska. and their advantages were from 25 to lOO per cent greater.
The actual settler was advised to go at once and enter himself a farm
while he might, of the large amount of the very best quality of lands yet
to be entered in luwa; for Iowa was making rapid strides toward great-
ness, and a few \ears would make her one of the wealthiest states in the
union.

About the same time, the Iowa State Journal at Des Moines, published
a description of central Iowa, in which it described Story County as em-
bracing a large amount of tine prairie, lying between the streams. The
amount of timber land in tlie couiUy was estimated from government sur-
veys, at 21.800 acres, and by the census of 1856. there were in the county
of occujiied and improved land. 8,484 acres, and of unoccupied and un-
iniijrovcd land. 52.045. According to this author, there were in 1856 of
religious denominations representeil. the Methodist. r>a|itist, Presbyterian
and Episcopalian organizations. The Skunk river wa^^ described as a tine
stream, which description does not harmonize well with otiier rejwrts and
])erhaps discredits .somewhat the prospectus, and says, more truthfully, that
the ])rairie soil is deep, rich and productive. Tiie line of the Iowa Central
Railroa<l is described as nearly bisecting the county east and we.st. This
railroad, be it noted, having been at tiie time a paper railroad, titly called
the Air Line, and hoping ultimately to be able, by the aid of the land
grant which was later forfeited for lack of construction, actually to con-
struct the -same. Stove coal was stated to be found jicre. which was true
over on Squaw creek on the western border of the county, and has later
been true of other i)ortions of the county, although not in quantities that
were profitably worked. In Nevada, the Shire-town, and Iowa Center were

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 115

the principal towns of the county and the only ones that were apparently
thought worthy of mention.

In all of this time, the travel across the country was generally over
prairie routes and by private conveyance. The first postoffice was at Nevada,
in 1853. T. E. Alderman being the only settler and inevitably the post-
master, and mail was established, with a weekly service over a route to
Des ]\Ioines, J. P. Robinson being the first mail carrier. Along in 1857, J.
A. Fitchpatrick then a youth on his father's farm, in what is now Ames,
on the east side of the Squaw creek, was the carrier on a mail route
which was then established from Nevada, by way of Bloomington, to
New Philadelphia, the postoffice at Bloomington, being known as Camden.
This was Mr. Fitchpatrick's earliest public service, and for one round trip
each week, he received the compensation of 75 cents. Mail service and
travel both gradually improved, however ; and whereas, the earliest definite
routes of travel had been indicated by a furrow plowed across the prairie
from one settlement to another, afifording sometimes the only safe guide
for the traveler across the otherwise unmarked country, there came to
be established from time to time, definite state roads, which were con-
structed in the most favorable locations with little, if any regard to section
lines, and which were more or less improved where the necessity for such
improvement was most obvious at the crossings of streams and sloughs.

These roads led very much more directly from one town to another
than by the present highways as between towns that are not on the same
parallel of latitude or meridian of longitude ; and for this reason, they have,
in later years been generally lost sight of in the reconstruction of the
highways existing upon lines of the government survey. The most im-
portant of these roads across the county, came from Marietta in Marshall
County, by way of Clemons Grove thence across Sherman Township to
the crossing of East Indian, south of Johnson's Grove, and thence across
Richland to Nevada. At Nevada, it crossed by the we.st ford, near the
southwest corner of the Nevada cemetery, thence across the prairie to
Bloomington, and from there to New Philadelphia. There were branches
southwest from Nevada, from the lower ford, direct to the Skunk river
crossing near Cambridge, this being the main route to Des Moines ; while
southeastward, there was a route tiirough Iowa Center to the county line
at Peoria, where it divided in the directions of Newton and Des Moines.
As the railroad progressed westward, and the travel increased, a hack
line was established over the route from Marietta and from there to Des
Moines or Boonsborough ; and, when the railroad in the latter part of the
war period, finally reached here, the traffic by the Western Stage Com-
i;any, over this route, became very considerable; that is. for stage travel,
but in the fifties, there was very little actually of this sort of service. Col.
Scott records that he tramped into town in 1856, and, as a general rule,
the traveler who could not furnish his own outfit or find accommodation

no HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

with some one going in the same direction, liad to walk or depend upon
such facihties as the mail carrier was able to afford.

Hut ail of this time, the county had been devclo])ing. It was not yet
D great county, but. at the beginninsj of i860, it had a considerable popula-
tion and well-defined politics, had made the beginnings from which were
to result the first great railroad and the very great institution of practical
education; and, without knowing what it was really doing it was getting
into shape to bear its share in the great struggle for the Union, which was
soon to come. As the initial action of the county, in respect to this struggle,
it is recorded in the Advocate of January 11, i860, with most discouraging
brevity, as follows: "As per public notice, the reiniblicans of Story County
met at the court house and organized by calling J. P. Robinson to the
chair, and apjiointing R. R. Thrall secretary, the object of the meeting be-
ing to appoint delegates to attend the state convention to be held at Des
Moines, on the 18th inst. and elect delegates to attend the republican na-
tional convention ; for the purpose of nominating a candidate for president
and vice president. It proceeded at once to business and appointed E. C.
Evans, T. C. McCall, Geo. Child and P. A. Queal, delegates, and T. C.
Davis, M. F. Baldwin, J. H. Miller and F. Thompson, as alternates." There
are no comments and there are no suggestions of controversy ; but this
mass convention, apparently not very largely attended, and certainly occa-
sioning no excitement, was the part which the people of Story County, in
their individual capacity, took in the nomination of Lincoln. How many
of these delegates actually attended the state convention, we do not know,
but T. C. McCall did attend, and he lent his best endeavors to the election
of John A. Kasson as delegate at large to the national convention. The
delegation which Iowa elected to that convention was considerably larger
than the number of delegates to which the state was entitled, and the dele-
gates had to cast fractional votes, and these were considerably divided as
to the candidates ; but Kasson was made the Iowa member of the com-
mittee on resolutions, and is credited with having been one of the chief
framers of the platform on which Lincoln was elected; so Story County
was early and effectively lending its influence in sujiport of the political
movement that was soon to succeed, but opposition to which would involve
the country in a consuming struggle.

CHAPTER XIII.
PIONEER REMINISCENCES.

MAJOR S. P. o'bRIEN '52 AND LATER INTERVIEW BY JESSIE B. PAYNE.

It was only fitting that it should be a mellow autumn day that I was
permitted to have my chat with the silver-haired major and his smiling
wife. One naturallv e.xpects a hush to have settled down over a room
where even a semi-invalid is confined but there is no gloom — nothing but
brightness and good cheer in the room where Major O'Brien sits in his
wheeled chair. His mind is clear and his speech unimpeded. And Alajor
Parley Sheldon, who kindly presented me to this venerable couple of the
old and new Ames remarked, "You may have infirmities, Major, but they're
not of mind, not of mind." In a smiling, unassuming manner then the
Major proceeded to give some pioneer stories, and I have tried not to
spoil them by changing a word. Major O'Brien said :

It was the 27th of October in 1852 that I first came to this county —
to Ames? No, Lord bless your life, there wasn't any. I settled on a
squatter's claim about a mile northeast of the present site of Ames (on
s. e. 34 sec. 35, township 84, range 24). Some of the real history mak-
ing events which you can find in any Iowa history were very firmly im-
pressed on my mind in those first years. Story County was organized in

1853, in the month of April under the supervision of Judge ^IcCall of
Boone County who divided the county into two townships for election
purposes. The west half he called Skunk Township and the east half
Indian Creek Township. I was at the organization and at the first election
but lacked a few days of being a legal voter.

As they neglected to elect a county assessor at that first election I was
appointed to that office by Judge E. C. Evans to take the assessment in
July, 1853. At that time there were 109 families in the county, most of
whom lived in tents or wagons. In my first assessment I found one man,
Wm. Parker, who said he had settled in the southeast corner of the county
in 1849, and I judged he had from the looks of things around. In April,

1854, I was elected to the office of school fund commissioner, which office
is now extinct. While acting in that capacity I sold several pieces of
school lands. Among others a quarter section each to Wm. K. Wood,

117

118 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

Jesse \\'ood, and Chris Wood. Win. K. Wood, is living on the same land
today.

The first court wa;- held in Judge Evans' cabin on the Skunk river, be-
fore Nevada was located. .\t that time Barnabas Lowell was arraigned and
indicted for the murder of his wife. He was later convicted and sentenced
to the penitentiary for life. 1 had the pleasure of helping put the irons on
the old fellow.

loe Thrift, of lioone County, and Johnson Edgar (of Jas])er County)
located Nevada. I lived in a cal)in on the .Skunk river at the time Joe was
making his tirst investigations and witnessed an amusing incident that I
used to tell on Joe occasionally, .\fter he got him in tlie water Joe's
horse decided not to swim and tinned over on his side until he rolled Joe
off into the stream which was pretty much swollen at the time. Then the
horses struck out and swam and beat Joe across, and stood on the i)ank
and waited all dripping for Joe who came out also dripping and in not
the best teni[)er.

Judge Mcb'arland [jresided at the lirsl term of court held in Nevatla,
at which time court was held in a cabin that stood on the lot now occui)ied
by the opera house in Nevada. At this term I was admitted to the bar.
Many stories are told of the old judge and I remember one of his friends
.said in those early days that the judge couldn't sit on a case intelligently
unless he had a quart of brandy in him. In the mornings Judge McFar-
land would go out and kill enough prairie chickens to last us all day and
Mrs. Alderman would cook them for us.

There was plenty of the sim])le life in those days with no special effort
made to get back to nature. The country was full of game, elk, deer, wolves,
foxes, and the like. .\t one time I remember my brother-in-law, H. J.
Hiestand, and I stood still on a piece of prairie just north of where Ames
is now situated and counted 52 deer grazing in the hollow. Counting all
your circuses you have probably never seen more than a dozen in your life,
have you? Weil in those day^ they were no curiosity and it was well for
us that they were so plentiful. X'enison was a staple anil add to it corn
bread, fat ])ork, potatoes and coffee and you have very nearly the sum total
of the un|)rinted menu of the times. We had no fruit, no Knick-nacks and
what gr(X-eries we had to buy, we got in Des Moines and the trip took
three or four days. We did mo.st of our hauling with oxen, and when
we were first settling I used to take my own grain and that of all the neigh-
bors behind from 4 to 6 yokes of oxen to Oskaloosa to be milled. The
mail was also an occasion for travel, as the nearest postoffice was at Boons-
borough, now the lil'tli \\ard nt Boone. I remember too, iliat the hunber
for the first frame house in this county was hauled from u]) on Boone river.
Traveling was no simple matter either with oxen or horses. A gcjod deal of
land was not cleared and we had great times getting across rivers. There
were no bridges and there was much more high water in the streams here
than there is now. Men often swam their horses across unless the horse was

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 119

of an independent turn of mind like Joe Thrift's. We frequently had visits
from the Musquakie Indians who would camp on Skunk bottom in the
winters. My children played with the Indian children often out in the
woods. The Indians would never eat with the whites, but they were honest
and straight and always peaceable.

In June, 1853, I. N. Briley, who now is a resident of Ames, was born,
and he was the first white boy born in the county and my son Sam was
the second.

The government land sales were interesting affairs. We had to go to
Des Moines and wait until our township was called before we could enter
our land and sometimes this required a wait of several days. It seems
as though the early settlers had implicit confidence in each other as to their
honesty and integrity, and an incident at one of the land sales that I recall
is indicative of a very general attitude. Judge E. C. Evans was in the land
office at Des Moines waiting his time when another man whom he did
not know and in fact had never seen before, came in and while they were
both waiting they compared notes on the length of their prospective waits,
and finding they would each have to wait two or three days before they
could enter their land, the stranger, a Mr. Sowers, said it would be foolish
for them both to remain in Des Moines when one could do the business. So
he gave Judge Evans the description of the land, three 80 acre lots, which
he wished to enter and gave him $300 in gold with which to buy the land
and went home. Before he saw or heard from the land he had forgotten the
name of the Judge, but afterwards by accident met him and received receipts
for his money from the land office. This was a case of absolutely depending
on honor. Judge Evans later went one time to enter land for himself and
neighbors and had so much gold coin that he put it in a sack and carried it
in front of his saddle. The men of those days sometimes carried as much as
$3,000 or $4,000 on their journeys and carried it fearlessly.

ATTY. A. K. WEBB.

A. K. Webb has lived in Story County for the most of his life but is now
in the practice of law at Wagner, Oklahoma. Writing from that place in
June, 1910, he said;

"My parents, Mr. and Mrs. Nathan Webb, came from the state of In-
diana to Iowa in the spring of 1848 and settled at Trullinger's Grove in Polk
county, three miles north of where Mitchellville is now located. Our first
need was that of a cow; and, being short on money, Father and we boys cut
and split 3,000 rails for Eli Trullinger for the needed cow. In the spring of
1852, we moved from Polk County to Story County and settled on the old
home farm near Iowa Center, a town which was subsequently surveyed and
platted by Jeremiah Cory, Jr., in 1853 or 4. This farm remained the family
home during the life time of my parents. Father built and operated the
first saw mill and flouring mill in Story County. It was near Iowa Center. I

120 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY .

was present, as a boy, and saw the commissioners drive the stake that located
the county seat of Story County at what is now known as Nevada, Iowa.
I had walked most of the way from Iowa Center to witness the great trans-
action, and I remembered well the heavy rain that overtook us on the way
up. Nearly all who witnessed tlie exciting scene of that day have passed
beyond the River of Death."

THE STOLEN MILL.

Another story which is not told on the authority of Major O'Brien but
which is told of a matter concerning him by one that is supposed to know and
which is (juite as significant of pioneer law and justice as anything that has
been reported on that subject, runs as follows:

In 1857 and for many years thereafter the talk of the town and sur-
rounding country as well was of the remarkable feat of stealing and carrying
away a sawmill previously located just west of the block where W. G.
Wright and George W. Hemstock now live in the southwest part of Nevada.
The mill and fittings were new and had lately been erected by one John
Parker, who sold it to Capt. S. P. O'Brien ; but it appears that the material
used in the construction had not been paid for. O'Brien put everything he
had into the mill and a mechanic's lien of $400 was tiled which he also paid.
Shortly afterwards a Pittsburg firm tiled another claim of $1,400. and R. D.
Coldren, who lived on the hill just above the mill, acting as deputy sheritt,
took possession of the outfit, and Capt. O'Brien threw up his hands and gave
everything up as lost. However in a few days thereafter the peojjle of
Nevada on getting up one morning found that the mill had passed away in
the night, and it has always been said it was never heard of afterwards.

During the present week the writer casually called upon Capt. O'Brien,
who is now a cripple living in Ames, to have a few moments chat over old
times, and while we were talking over the incidents of the Fourth of July
exhibition of fifty years ago, Elijah Purvis, another old comrade, came up
and joined in and it soon developed that Purvis was the man who had en-
gineered the deal in carrying away the saw mill, and he being asked to state
the particulars readily did so about as follows:

The neighbors and friends of O'Brien upon hearing of his misfortune
thought it was too bad for their friend to lo.se all he had in a venture of that
kind and they got together and agreed upon a plan of action. They gathered
up forty yoke of oxen and several wagons and started for Nevada. Purvis
gave twenty-five cents for a gallcjn jug of the best whiskey he could find and
came on a few hours ahead with his ox team, lie drove in by way of the
mill and meeting Coldren there seemed surprised to find him at that place;
and after chatting a while pulled out his jug and invited the deputy to drink,
which he readily did and seemed to like the flavor of the whiskey, .\fter
some further talk Purvis insisted he nnist be moving; but after lieing treated
again Coldren insisted that he stay all night. Purvis coulil not hear of such a

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 121

thing, and moved on up town and in a short time returned the same way.
They talked and proceedings as before were repeated and Purvis finally
agreed it would be best to turn his oxen in until after supper at least. They
went to the house, taking the jug of course. Mrs. Coldren prepared supper
and also a quantity of egg nog. By eleven o'clock Coldren and his helper
were beastly drunk and retired.

Purvis hitched up his team and repaired to the mill just in time to meet
the other neighbors, and they went to work dismantling the structure in short
order and loading up the machinery and boiler, which weighed several tons,
they then struck out across the prairie for Skunk river which they reached
in the early morning and hid the loot in the woods for the day.

Some time that day Coldren recovered and seeing no signs of the mill
went out to see Purvis whom he found at home, and who expressed himself
as very much surprised to hear that the mill had disappeared, and profifered
assistance in looking it up. Elijah soothed Coldren with more egg nog and
a bountiful meal, and the deputy then returned to Nevada, reporting that he
could get no trace of the stolen property.

The next night the outfit w'as taken over to the Des Moines river and
hid in the timber, and sometime thereafter it was sold to other parties and
removed farther up the river, Capt. O'Brien realizing very little if anything
in the venture.

JAMES C. LOVELL AS TOLD BY HIS GRAND-DAUGHTER.

Of the young fellows who came to Nevada in its first year none was
better qualified to make himself remembered. Also few of his time have
stayed around so long. Mr. Lovell now lives at Seattle, where his home is
kept by his grand-daughter, Mrs. Libbie Balliet Hoag. The latter has
written most entertainingly some of her grandfather's stories, as follows:

When my grandfather, James C. Lovell, came to Nevada in the fall of
1854, he was twenty years old and in appearance, judging from an old
daguerreotype of that time, a slim and beardless boy.

When he was ten years of age, he with the rest of his father's family,
made the long journey from his birthplace in Vermont, by way of the Great
Lakes, to Wisconsin. He was therefore somewhat experienced at pioneer-
ing when he came to Iowa, and considered the summer time drive with horse
and buggy from Wisconsin across country a simple matter.

His father had died two years after the family reached Wisconsin, and
from that time the young James had been dependent very largely upon his
own resources. He had accumulated a little money by working at various
things, but conditions in Wisconsin were not satisfactory, and tales from the
west stirring unrest, he determined to strike out for a new location.

Late in July of 1854, in company with Dr. and Mrs. M. D. Sheldon and
Dr. Fenn, (Mrs. Sheldon's cousin), the start was made from Hartland. The

122 HISTORY OF STORY COUXTY

little party was bound for Omaha, at that time a thriving "out fitting station"
for the plains, and they did not know that such a place as Nevada existed.

Dr. Sheldon and his brave, rosy cheeked bride of a year, led the way
with their horse and light buggy. Dr. Fenn and my grandfather, each in a
similar rig. followed, grandfather driving a big raw boned, spotted horse,
which he traded for a gray one before he reached the boundary line of
Wisconsin.

The roads over the prairie were level and good, but very dusty. The
party drove early in the morning and late in the evening, and rested in the
middle of the day, thus avoiding the extreme heat. The way was treeless,
excepting along the banks of streams, and they were without bridges, and
had to be forded. Houses were far apart. Often they traveled twenty miles
at a stretch without sight of man's habitation. Then there would be a little
"neighborhood" or settlement, — several farm houses close together, — and
then unbroken, undulating prairie again, until the horizon shut off the view.
At one time, while still in Wisconsin, they crossed fifty-one miles of prairie
without coming to a house or stream of water. Food in plenty they carried
with them, and a small quantity of water, but it was not sufficient for the
long day. The poor horses had no water at all. and there was great rejoicing
when, long after dusk, the travelers saw the lights of Fairplay, Wisconsin.

The long drives were enlivened by songs and "speech making." and many
were the jiractical jokes that were played b\ the youngest member of the
company.

The Mississippi river was crossed at Duhiiquc. by ferry, and the ])arty
proceeded to Knoxville, Marion county, Iowa, where relatives of the Shel-
dons lived. There, Dwight Sheldon, eldest child of Dr. and Mrs. Sheldon,
was born. After remaining in Knoxville for a month, the journey was
resumed.

At "Twin River." south of Des Moines, where the party stopped to
"water" and to rest, they met Henry French, who had come there, bringing
a load of grain from his farm on h'ast Indian Creek, to have it milled. Mr.
I'Vench told them in glowing terms of the richness of Story County lands,
and the splendid jjrospecls of that part of tlie country. So forceful was his
argument, that the little ])arty changed plans and starte<l northward.

Reaching Iowa Center, then Cjuitc a village (compared with \evada,)
the travelers stopped at Jerry Corey's log hotel, which consisted of two
rooms, in size about ijxid each, with an attic or loft above. The floors were
of "ijunchcons." or sjjlii logs, and the beds in this hotel were what were
called "catamounts," ma<le of poles with the bark on, with holes bored in
them, through which they were roped together. Most of the beds were in
the loft, which was reached by a ladder. When all were in bed the ladder
was .set aside, out of the way, until needed again. Across the street was the
log house where Jerry Corey kept store and post-office. The town also
boasted a log school house, where on Sundays religious .service was held
whenever a minister happened along.

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 123

The little village, sheltered as it was by the trees bordering East Indian
Creek, presented a much more attractive appearance than the average prairie
town of that time. The Sheldons decided to locate permanently in Iowa
Center, but Dr. Fenn and Grandfather Lovell went to Nevada, where they
boarded at John McLain's.

Among- the sixteen boarders who lived at McLain's at that time, or came
in the next few months, were Charlie Berry, Wm. Berry, Nathan Pardee,
Wm. Bennet, Col. John Scott, George and Henry Staley, (land buyers),
Richard Jenness and Isaac Walker, besides Dr. Fenn, and Grandfather
Lovell.

The McLain Hotel was about the size of the one at Iowa Center, and
likewise possessed a loft where the boarders slept. This loft was "two logs
high beneath the eaves," had a window in one end. and was reached by a
]iermanent ladder from the general room below. The beds consisted mostly
of ticks filled with hay and laid on the floor, side by side. Many a traveler
during times of land rush, lacking even this sort of a bed, slept rolled in his
blanket, and was thankful for shelter.

Nevada at that time consisted of five or six houses, clustered together on
the bare prairie. There was not a tree nearer than those which fringed
West Indian Creek. The little hamlet was exposed alike to the blizzards of
winter and the glare of summer. But the pioneers gathered there could see
possibilities in the unbroken prairie that surrounded them, and they took
first steps toward developing it.

Grandfather's capital by the time he was established as one of the board-
ers at "Mac's," was reduced to $17.00 and his horse anil buggy. Board for
himself was $2.50 per week, and there was the additional cost of grain for
the horse, which was stabled in an old straw shed.

Chiefly to reduce expenses, he traded the horse, buggy and harness for
forty acres of land which now constitutes a part of the Frank McLain farm.
His money was getting low and the problem of getting a start in the new
land looked the young pioneer square in the face.

There was not a variety of employments in that locality and he welcomed
an opportunity to split rails at $1.00 per thousand for Alexander Densmore
who lived on East Indian. Buying a new ax and wedges, he started at the
job; but by the time the first tree was cut down and split into rails, his hands
were blistered. He stopped to rest and to think awhile, and he made up his
mind he wouldn't start that way. To emphasize his decision he threw his
new ax and wedges as far as he could send them.

Then he went to Iowa Center and, taking advantage of the limited educa-
tion he had received at Merton, Wisconsin, and the lack of school opportun-
ities which had been the lot of most of the settlers, he engaged the school at
Iowa Center at $1.00 per day and board. But Dr. Fenn, who had not been
very fortunate in finding employment, begged grandfather to let him have
the position and offered him $10.00 for it; so it was arranged with Jerry
Corey, the school director, that Dr. Fenn should teach the district school and

1-J4 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

that grandfather should open a writing school in the school house, at night.
The writing school proved popular, forty-two pupils attending it, and the
school director being one of them. It was also a success financially, as the
charge was $2.00 per pupil for fifteen lessons, and $84 looked larger in those
days than the sum does now.

At the same time grandfather started a writing school at Nevada witli
about thirty pupils in attendance, and another at George Dyes, at East
Indian Creek.

in the writing school at George Dye's there were about twenty-five
inii)ils. The writing school in Nevada was held in .Alderman's store.
Lioards laid across .salt barrels served as desks. Here, by the light of flar-
ing candles, old and young gathered twice a week, during the long winter
evenings. Without doubt any occasion that would draw people together was
welcomed as a break in monotony, and the social side of the writing school
was as much appreciated as was the instructive ;

The next spring, 1855, grandfather in company with Dick Jennes, bought
eleven yoke of oxen, plows, chains and entire outfit for breaking prairie, and
paid for the oxen with work, breaking a certain number of acres for each
yoke of cattle. Five yoke of the oxen were bought from Henry French and
breaking was done on his farm accordingly.

Breaking on Major Hawthorn's land occupied considerable time, during
which time the men lived entirely out of doors, sleeping in their wagons and
eating what the major carried them, as it was some distance to the house.

So the first summer passed with considerable profit, various trades being
negotiated for land, horses, lumber or almost anything that was exchangable.

When fall came, the partners sold the cattle which they had worked dur-
ing the season, and grandfather took up writing school again.

In November of that year, Isaac Romaine and his family reached Nevada,
and built the seventh cabin in the town, on the corner where the Dr. Winsett
(C. T. Swartz ) residence now stands. Four or five members of the family
attended the writing school, and one of them was Mary Romaine. whose ac-
quaintance with the writing teacher, thus begun, ended in the marriage of
the two the next year, October nth, I856.

The young couple lived at first with the Romaine family, but after a few
weeks a new home was started on one of several lots belonging to the bride-
groom. The new house was located where Boyd's Meat Market used to be,
which would bring it about two doors south of the present Patrick hard-
ware store. The house was small, consisting of two rooms and a pantry
and as it was built in the edge of winter, when the men of the community
were not busy, nearly all of the young men of the town helped in construct-
ing it. In front of the house was a pond, which extended across the street
to the eastward of where the White and Bamberger store is now, and was
quite deej) in places. The front door of the house was reached by means of
a long plank sui)ported by chunks of wood. The furnishings of the new

■ ^-'7-vS^":;?:- -_-^-"''yT^'^':-<~t~

FRIENDS' CHURCH, NEVADA

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 125

home were scanty. Furniture was hard to get, even if one had the means,
inasmuch as it all had to be hauled from Keokuk.

So the first meal in the new home was eaten off a dry goods box, and the
chairs were nail kegs, each having a square piece of board nailed across its
top. Mr. Alderman carried a small stock of hardware in connection with
his general store, and from that stock a stove had been selected, which
proved to be a good one, for it lasted thirty years or more. That stove and a
bedstead constituted the store furnishings. The dishes were mostly odd
pieces which had been accumulated during the girlhood of the bride, and
carefully packed when the family came out from Illinois. Of pieced quilts
and similar bedding there was plenty, but feather pillows and a feather bed
(then considered necessities) were lacking and straw pillows and straw bed
served as substitutes for some time.

In the course of a month or so, grandfather made a trip to Keokuk after
a load of furniture for the store, and took his pay for the hauling in articles
for the home. Among the pieces thus acquired were six chairs and a cane-
seated rocker, and also a square topped light stand having two drawers,
which continued a part of the furnishings of the Lovell home as long as that
home existed. This light stand served as a dining table for some time. So
proud were the owners of their new furniture that they invited a number of
their friends to an oyster supper. The guests were Mr. and Mrs. Alderman,
Julia Romaine, Isaac Walker, Wm. Lockeridge, Dick Jennes, and others
whose names are confused in the shadows of time. The little light stand
did its part nobly as a social board, though its top was only about two and a
half feet square. Thus the newly married couple of over fifty years ago,
entertained and were contented with their little home.

By this time, 1856, a good many changes had taken place in Nevada.
The town was growing rapidly. Sawed lumber and weather boarding from
the new saw mill at Ballard Grove had taken the place of logs for building
purposes, and many families whose names were afterward identified with
the town for many years, had arrived. Among the neighbors whose names
were often mentioned in connection with that first housekeeping of the Lov-
ells, were the Kelloggs — Dr. and Mrs. Kellogg and Judge G. A. Kellogg —
the families of Uncle David Child, S. S. Webb, and E. G. Day.

In the spring of 1858, grandfather made arrangements for moving onto

eighty acres of land which he owned three miles northeast of Nevada. The

contract for building the house was let to Charles Schoonover, for $1,100.

The house was built with solid oak frame and black walnut siding, and it

stands today, with but few alterations. When the family, which at this

time included the baby Carrie, moved into this new home, there were but

three houses between that place and Eldora. However, there were neighbors

only a mile and a half to the westward, where the family of Thomas Turtle

lived in a log house on the farm which in a few years the Turtles sold to

George Moore. Those two houses were the only ones in sight on the prairie.

The work of planting trees — little cottonwoods and locusts which were
Vol. 1—9

126 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

transplanted from tlic timber along East Indian Creek, and preparing a
permanent home, was soon under way.

IVairie fires were a constant menace in summer, and many times the
pro])crty was safe only after its owners had fought fire imtil far into the
night, riic blizzards of winter, were, in their way. as hartl to contend with
as the fires of summer and autumn. Once, at least, when grandfather had
gone to Muscatine after a load of goods for Nevada merchants, a storm
began to rage, after he had been gone a few days. Grandmother and the
three little children might have perished had not Mr. Dana insisted that
John Romaine, then a lad of si.xteen, be sent out to see how they were faring.
The storm came on suddenly at night, and the snow fell to great depth, cov-
ering the pile of unprotected green wood and the ax. Some wood was cut,
but not sufficient to meet the demands of the extreme cold and the enforced
prolonged absence of the man of the house. For two days, grandmother
worked with the hatchet, facing the storm to dig the wood from the snow,
then cutting the smaller pieces which she could manage with the hatchet and
drying them in the oven. She did not dare let the fire go out at night, be-
cause she could not start it again with the material she had. Newsjiapers
were not common then and every dry bit of wood had been burned, h'inally
no wood remained except great chunks which she could not possibly handle
and another night was approaching, liut grandmother was seldom without
some resource, and in this instance it was a bedstead with great high posts.
These posts she cut off, pausing every few minutes to look out of the win-
dow. At last she gave a little cry and ran to the door. Someone was com-
ing. It proved to be her brother, muffled in wraps, and with a blessed ax
across his shoulder. He was much exhausted and that night he had a high
lever, but he staid until grandfather returned, which was nearlj' a week, as
it was im])ossible to make the tri]i with a load from Muscatine through the
drifts. So liie pioneers all through Iowa, fought the elements and the hard-
ships and the poverty incident to beginnings in a new coutry, and later en-
dured the trials brought by the Civil War. and succeeded in luaking good
homes and a country to be proud of.

The homo which my grandparents established on the prairie, remaincil
the home of the family for thirty-four years, or until it was sold in 1892 to
George C, White, who is still its owner,

Li BRIE B.ALLIET Ho.\C..
T.\LES OF HER GRANDMOTHER.

Mrs. Libbie lialliet lloag has also preserved from earlier nanation two
delightful stories of Mrs. Lovell:

THE riONEER WOMAN IN AN EMERGENCY.

"It does seem as though the equilibrium of the pioneer woman was more
secure than is that of the woman of the present day. The prospect of two

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 127

or three unexpected guests for a meal, is enough to upset the average house-
keeper now and to fire her nerves with anxiety. Yet she is, most Hkely,
provided with conveniences for doing her work, and an abundance of nice
china and linen, such as her grandmother never dreamed of. Besides, she
may have good stores within a few blocks, perhaps she can even reach them
by telephone, and can order from them almost any thing, from soup to des-
sert, already prepared.

"Contrast the housewife's resources today with those general in the
primitive days of Nevada when, in one instance I know of, one woman pre-
pared the dinner, served it and washed the dishes for fifty unexpected guests.
It was in the second year of the growth of this city ; and the woman, now a
great-grandmother, was then barely twenty-one. Groceries, like other sup-
plies, were brought by wagon from Rock Island, Keokuk or Muscatine,
usually twice a year. The variety was consequently somewhat limited and
the housekeeper was restricted to just what it was possible to get. Perhaps
such limited range was less confusing to choose from than is the present-day
great variety.

"The McLain hotel was then the only hostelry for strangers in the town.
The spring of '55 brought such a flood of land-seekers that Mrs. McLain felt
unable to cope with the tide alone, and she called on a daughter of one of
the neighbors to help her — at first, occasionally, and then steadily for some
time. Mrs. McLain felt free to trust the new assistant; and, on wash days,
she herself did the big washing, leaving the rest of the feminine respon-
sibility to Mary. Also, when the garden which had been planted south of
town needed attention, she would mount her steed and, with lunch basket
and hoe, ride away to spend as much time as necessary in conquering the
weeds springing abundantly from our fertile soil.

"It was on one of these occasions of the landlady's absence that the rush
of which I speak occurred. There was not even a supply of bread baked.
Mary's first step on noticing quite a number of strangers in town was to set
a big patch of 'sponge.' With the homemade yeast kept in store, bread
could be prepared for the table in a few hours. A lot of pies and a large
pudding were next made and hurried into the elevated oven and out again as
soon as possible. The pies were vinegar and custard, the only kinds within
her resources at that season.

"By the time dinner was ready, the long table was filled with men.
Tablefull after tablefull followed. Guests were served, table changed, dishes
washed, more food prepared, etc., etc., until over fifty persons had been
waited upon. Fortunately the supply of bread held out and there were
potatoes and meat and like plain foods in plenty ; but the dessert which had
been provided soon vanished, and minute pudding had to supply the de-
ficiency. The long, low, shed room which served as both dining room and
kitchen, was crowded to the uttermost, and one can imagine the noise and
confusion, the talking and laughing and rattling of dishes, as those men
were served or stood about waiting their turn.

128 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

"The housekeeper who is easily confused by the presence in the kitchen
of an extra person or two will doubtless have to stretch imagination in order
to picture herself preparing and serving a meal under the circumstances
which surrounded the pioneer woman. The latter does not claim, however,
that she was not nervous or tired. She was simply in one of those straits in
which one has to march straight ahead, no matter how weary the limb or
aching the brow."

DR. .\D.\M son's cow.

"Tn outward appearance, there was nothing in particular to distinguish
Dr. Adamson"s cow from the other cows which grazed at pleasure on the
Nevada Commons in '55 ; but for tenacity of purpose, and extraordinary will
power this animal acquired quite a reputation. Instead of feeding quietly
with her companions, she preferred to roam by herself, and, none of the
house lots being fenced, she had ample opportunity to explore all back yards,
examine slop buckets, etc.

"One place in particular was her favorite haunt, and nu amount of per-
suasion (gentle or otherwise), could induce her to change her fee<ling
ground. From early morn until milking time in the evening, she lingered
about that door yard. To add to the natural inconvenience resulting from
her tramping around and upsetting things, she indulged her great appetite
for dry goods. Promptly at every opportunity, she proceeded to chew up
any sort of cloth that she came across.

"One day when she had reduced some new shirts to a slimy pulp, the
house mother resolved on extreme tactics. Saying nothing to anyone, she
tied a good bunch of red pepper pods in a cloth and put the package wliere
she was sure the offending ruminant would find it. According to expecta-
tion, the cow found and began to chew the deceptive bundle. However,
contrary to said expectation, she did not drop the cud and run off in con-
sternation, but remained on the spot, and chewed, and chewed, and chewed,
until the foam which dripi)ed from her mouth made a heap almost as large
as a washtuh. The mother was in agony of mind, for she had intended no
one should know of her little ruse. At last, fortunately, the cow could
endure the peppers no longer, and, dropjiing them, with a loud bellow she
ran for home. The cure was permanent. She never more annoyed that
housewife."

CHAPTER XIV.
MRS. HAXXAH KELLOGG— 1855 AXD L.\TER.

(story as told to MRS. A. M. PAYNE.)

Mrs. Hannah Kellogg is the earhest surviving resident of the city of
Nevada ; lier husband was the first adult person buried here ; her little boy
was the fourth child buried here, and her daughter, Mrs. George W. Dyer,
is the oldest native of the city. Of the still living persons who live
here or have lived here, none other has been so closely identified with the
city from its very beginnings, and none other is so competent now to speak
of those beginnings. Her coming here with her husband and little family
was wholly characteristic of the coming of those who were to upbuild the
county, while the bereavements she suffered and the trials she endured were
more than ordinarily significant of the pathos of pioneer life. She was
the wife of Dr. X. Alonzo Kellogg, a young physician, well educated and
capable, and their home had been in Casstown, Ohio. Reasons characteris-
tic of young people hoping to get on in the world, started them west when
they had been married less than three years, and after vicissitudes of a jour-
ney unusually trying they reached Xevada on the 17th of June, 1855, Dr.
Kellogg, Mrs. Kellogg and son Willie. Of the coming of the Kelloggs,
the conditions they found here, the people who came and lived here and
the experiences they had, Mrs. Kellogg has furnished a very luminous
record in a series of interviews compiled by Mrs. A. M. Payne. Much
of this story is here reproduced as follows :

BOUND FOR IOWA.

Two families from Casstown who had moved to Henry County, Illi-
nois, had written back glowing accounts of the "beautiful land" on the
other side of the Mississippi, where Uncle Sam was giving away farms.
Burlington was the known gateway of that country ; hence to Burlington
the Kelloggs would go and thence where fortune should dictate. For
Burlington they accordingly took passage at Cincinnati with all of their
belongings, including $1,700 in gold, on a river steamer. The trip down
the Ohio was uneventful and made small impression on the young mother,

129

130 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

deeply absorbed in the care of an ailing babe. At St. Louis there was
change of boats, and the confusion and bustle attendant upon the transfer
of passenger and lading; and they had little more than started northward
when cholera broke out abt)ard. Several cases appeared almost simul-
taneously. A member of the ship's company died of the fell disease
after a few hours, and in the night Mr^. Kellogg, watching from the cabin
window when the boat had stopped at an island, saw the quick, sad burial.
A child belonging to a family of emigrants died just before Keokuk was
reached, and the precious clay was hustled oflf for burial somewhere — the
stricken parents knew not where or how — and the Ixsat would not wait to
allow- them any sail privileges. There was panic and everybody who could,
abandoned the vessel. The Kelloggs were of this number. Dr. Kellogg
had had volunteer practice during a siege of cholera near Cincinnati, and
he reasoned that Baby Willie would be an easy victim. Mrs. Kellogg's
terror of this destroyer dated from her childhood, w hen it had robbed her
of both of her parents in a single night. It was unspeakable relief to be
on land again and able to put distance between themselves and the infection.

INTRODUCTION TO I()W.\.

The comijany. having landed. in(|uircd as with one voice for a hotel
that could furnish well-w'ater. They had had enough of river water. There
were several hotels in Keokuk ; but only one with the requisite demanded.
In this one humble hostelry the whole crowd gathered. Crowded indeed
they were, and of all ages and conditions. Kind indeed, was the effort of
proprietors to furnish comfort; stoves had been removed for the summer;
but the weather being wet and cold, heaters were hustled into service again.
Babies were sick, and a learned doctor came from the college to prescribe
for them. Thus a few- days passed and r.aby Willie seemed rested enough
to justify another move.

In this land of the free, where stir-about is the rule, one seldom gets
far from friends. To the troubled Kelloggs whose footsteps were fresh
on .soil seemingly close to the juni]iing-otT place, came the comforting
recollection that near Warsaw on the east bank of the Mississip])i, only
eight miles below Keokuk, lived an uncle of Mrs. Kellogg. Mr. William
Clyne. Every ill-wind blows some good. Now was the opportunity to
visit the esteemed relative. Goods were accordingly stored at Keokuk and
a ferry and stage-ride taken which duly ended at the uncle's home. This
home was a settler's cabin in a wooddl section. One room for living and
sleeping purposes, a loft for storage and ,i bit nf a >hetl to cook in, com-
prised accommodations. Mut however scanty these, hos])italily was ample
and it was arraii,i,a'd that the guest-mother and babe should tarry while
Dr. Kellogg went on a tour of insjiection.

The second day after arrival the doctor was off, bound for Keokuk
and Burlington and thence for some part of the interior. He should be

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 131

gone ten days, should not be able to hear from his family in the meantime,
and should not write to them, unless for some reason his absence was to
be prolonged. They were in good hands. He could trust them confidently,
and of course there would be no worry about him.

Hardly had the baby cooed good-bye and the father gone beyond re-
call, when the little fellow sickened. He grew worse and worse, and a
physician from Warsaw was called. The new-old doctor found the wor-
ried mother walking the floor with her suffering, screaming baby. Of
course quiet must be restored or spasms would result. A potion was pre-
pared of which the mother was suspicious. She said, "You must not give
my child opiates, his father is a physician and says Baby cannot bear
them." But what did an excited woman know? The doctor persisted and
the mother knocked the spoon from his hand. A few drops, however, went
down the little patient's throat. He was soon asleep, and the physician
left. Sleep continued hour after hour. Baby had received so little of the
medicine that that could not be responsible for the change; yet he could
not be awakened. Anxiety became terror. Uncle William rode ten miles
to the southward for a wise old doctor who could be trusted; but the
healer could not be found. Then he rode two miles to the northward for a
young doctor. Still the baby slept, and word went through the neigh-
borhood that he would never waken. The doctor whose persistence had
been mischievous came in alarm and joined the anxious group. After ten
hours of stupor, nature rallied and feeble return to strength began. Fol-
lowing closely this heavy strain upon the little household, came the cry
of another babe in the house, the newly born of the hostess.

By this time ten days had passed, and anxiety turned toward the pros-
pector. Neither husband nor tidings materialized. The stage-driver, hav-
ing been commissioned to investigate, reported that Dr. Kellogg had bought
a horse at Burlington and with Dr. Launcelot Carr from Kentucky, whose
errand was similar to his own, had left for the interior of the state. Fur-
ther than this none knew; but conjectures were not wanting. Of course
ill had befallen him, else he would have written. He carried treasure; his
traveling companion would know the fact, and excited imagination pic-
tured the rest. In desperation Mrs. Kellogg implored by letter the doctor's
youngest brother, George A. Kellogg, back home to come and hunt the
lost one. "Come immediately." She would defray all expenses.

Fifteen days passed. At midnight the Clyne household were quieting
the worries of the new baby, when Mrs. Kellogg's ear caught the sound
of familiar footsteps. It might though be a repetition of the trick of
imagination. She had experienced several such. But quickly this time
came a rap followed by the swinging back of the house door and entrance.

"Why, Doctor, are you here ! We thought you dead !" Mr. Clyne
exclaimed.

"Yes, I am here and I have killed my horse to get here."

132 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

Dr. Kellogg's journeyings had been about what might have been ex-
pected. In company with Dr. Carr he had prospected along up the valley
of the Des Moines, striking off here and there to investigate field of prom-
ise till Story County was reached. The lay of the land and the good water
at Nevada pleased, and farms adjacent to the town were sought but they
had all been filed upon by either settlers or speculators ; so, as the best
they could do, Dr. Kellogg secured 200 acres over near where Roland is
now ; and Dr. Carr, a similar plat over at Bloomington. while each bought
lots for residence purposes in the town nearest his farm. It had been
as Uncle Clyne had predicted, there was need to stay longer than had
been planned. Dr. Kellogg had posted a letter somewhere but the tardy
mails yet held it.

Arrived at Keokuk at nightfall on his return the doctor thought to cross
the river and rest his jaded horse till morning; but at the ferry he met the
stage driver aforementioned who startled him with "They think you dead
and your child is dead."

On he must go, whether his horse were fit for travel or not. In pass-
ing through a timbered section he lost his way. He came upon a cabin,
roused the inmates and inquired. "You cannot follow the way in the
dark," the man said ; "you must stay here till morning." The wife inter-
rupted, "O, no, he must not stay here! His wife thinks him dead; and his
child, though it yet lives, is failing. I'd rather you would go and show
him the way," and on he went.

In the morning Mrs. Kellogg urged him to telegraph immediately to
the brother who had been summoned, that the dead was alive. A dispatch
would reach the Ohio town ahead of the letter she had sent. But the doctor
thought a letter would do as well, so a letter it was tliat went.

ENROUTE FOR NEV.XDA.

One day was spent in preparation, then the stage received the little
family again and by short though not easy rides the journey consuming
about a week was made to Nevada. Ai Pella, Oskaloosa and Des Moines
each was a tarry of a few days for baby Willie to rest. Oskaloosa seemed
surpassingly fair and Mrs. Kellogg wished to remain ; but the doctor pre-
ferred the neighborhood of his land. Des Moines was the most unattractive
of locations. The river had overflowed in the spring and wetness and
dirtiness were the most impressive conditions. Dr. Kellogg saiti, "Willie
woulii (lie here, sure," so on they came, in the open stage behind a mule
team, an umbrella making the baby as comfortable as possible in the father's
la|i.

Arrived at Madden's tavern Dr. Kellogg went in to arrange for dinner.
Returned to the wagon he exclaimed, "Whom do you suppose I have
found in there?" then he answered himself, "It's .Albert and he's shaking
with the ague."

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 133

George A., as he was designated in the west, had received Mrs. Kellogg's
summons but not the doctor's recall; had arrived at Warsaw soon after his
brother and family left that point ; had come on to Nevada, and was pros-
pecting on his own account when laid by with a chill at the way station.
The chill subsided, baby rested and the four came on to Nevada.

HOSPITALITY AND SORROW.

The Union House kept by John McLain was the one public house in
town. It was located diagonally across from the site of Frank McLain's
present residence and consisted of a double log house aflording two rooms
below and two above with a lean-to in the rear. The hotel was full, but
the comers might possibly get in over at Alderman's : so to Alderman's they
went. The full capacity of the T. E. Alderman log house has never been
reported. The building was the first one put up in Nevada, and occupied
the site which is now marked by a memorial stone in court house park. It
was a double log house facing the north, and comprising two rooms each
about 1 6 feet square of which the west room was the dwelling and the
east room the store, postofifice, and general business center of the settle-
ment and of the county. A double-slant roof covered the whole and a
narrow lean-to extended along the south side. A door opened from each
room to the north, also to the south, and was supplemented by an outside
door in the lean-to leading to the wood-pile and that recently acquired
blessing, a good well of water.

The family of the first pioneer consisted only of Mrs. Alderman and
little Oscar; but if it had numbered many, generous-heartedness would
have shared its best with strangers wishing to become neighbors ; so its
welcome to the Kelloggs was neither tardy nor scant.

The living room of the Aldermans held by day two curtained beds, a
tnmk or two. a bureau and stand, mother's rocking chair, and other chairs
and a big dry-goods box for storage, but there was still room for the guests
and their luggage with the addition at night of the trundle bed and a pallet
in the corner for the repose of the young man. The lean-to room, though
its floor was innocent of boards, contributed materially to convenience. The
cooking stove at the west end centralized kitchen operations, and the table
and e.xtempore cupboard in the other end told where the dining room was.
A cloudburst one early morning soon after the arrival of the Kelloggs
poured a flood under the house which ran ofi through the kitchen like a
river, and breakfast had to be delayed till the water subsided ; but such an
episode disturbed no one.

Baby Willie however kept growing weaker and the fourteenth day in
the new place, he dropped away. Treasures from three households already
consecrated the hillside which is now our cemetery. They were the in-
fant children of the Alderman, Romaine and George Child families. The
Kelloggs contributed the fourth ; Smith Goodin made the little cofifin of

134 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

native black waliiul ; Mr. Jerry Corey came over from Iowa Center to
speak words of comfort and everybody near brought sym])athy and joined
in last rites.

Grief found best relief in work, .so, after one busy day following the
funeral. Dr. Kellogg was ready to go to Keokuk for the goods be bad
stored there. Horses could not be procured, hence, folUnving advice. Dr.
Kellogg bad purchased an ox team — "You can turn the animals loose on
the prairie when you return." said bis counselors, "and there will be ready
sale for them."

The em])ty-armed young mother begged to go with her husband — she
"could sleep in the wagon or anywhere else that he could," and it would
be untold comfort to be witli him and out-of-doors. Wise Mrs. Alder-
man approved Mrs. Kellogg's request ; but the idea of a woman jaunting
otT in such style was too much for the doctor's prejudices. Then she would
at least, she insisted, go with him to Iowa Center and stay with Mrs. John
Wood till bis return. ".Aunt Eliza" had been over to Nevada, and her
kindliness had won the heart of the troubled young woman.

"Perhaps Mrs. Wood will not receive you," the doctor objected.

"There need be no fear of that," Mrs. .\ldernian assured, so the short
ride instead of the long one in a prairie schooner was taken. It was the
doctor's first experience with an ox team, but the beasts were so good at
following the trail that a teamster might have managed them left-handed as
appears in Rlasbfield's famous painting at the Iowa capitol.

Hauling up in front of Uncle Tommy Davis's store at Iowa Center,
the doctor went in to inquire for Mr. Wood's house; Mr. Wood himself
came out to answer. As to Mrs. Wood taking a boarder, they had neither
extra room nor accommodation ; but he melted before the tears in Mrs.
Kellogg's eyes and adeled, "We'll go and see what mother says." "Mother"
was the word, for a true mother Mrs. Wood was. How could she turn
away a sorrowing creature who needed mothering. "Of course we can
keep you! Come right in " and mothering arms gave expression to embrac-
ing love. It was only one more in a family of six adults — the seniors and
four young people. True their log cabin was one roomed, with a low loft,
and an outside shanty to hold the cooking stove, but there was plenty of
room outside, and kindliness made the stay of two weeks a time of healing.

One of ".Aunt Eliza's" trials during this visit is mentioned as illus-
trative of a peculiarity of settlement in the timber. More dreaded by the
housekeeper than the jiest of flics and mosquitoes, was the insect which
is diligent at night at human expense. It being necessary that the house-
hold woodpile be replenished, the boys drew u]) a load of fallen stuff. "O,
that is too bad," the good woman exclaimed, as soon as she .saw it; "1
wanted g<wd wood. Now we shall have trouble." Mrs. Kellogg did not
understand the connection. Mr-. Wood, however, turning over a few
barks brought to light the advance guard of the foe; and before the visitors
left, the siege being on, Mrs. Kellogg and one of the girls were sent over

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 135

to spend the day at W. K. Wood's while Aunt Eliza and the other maiden
emptied the house and waged war of extermination.

The Fourth of July arrived, and Mrs. Kellogg came over with the
Woods to attend the celebration at Nevada. Everybody thereabout came.
The year before, the first celebration in the county had been held at Iowa
Center. Now was a return of courtesies and it was quite a procession that,
decked with flags, wound over the prairie. Mrs. Kellogg, preferring quiet,
took little part in the festivities, but the day was celebrated by a proces-
sion, orations, etc., at the grove which stood near the old ford, southwest
of the cemetery. T. J. Adamson was president of the day, Isaac Romaine
was marshall, fully decked in old militia uniform and feathers, and carry-
ing a sword that is remembered mainly for its length ; the reader of the
Declaration was Randolph Goodin, then quite a young man ; the orator
was a man named Carpenter, from Newton, who made a failure in speak-
ing, and was supplemented in that line by a Baptist minister from another
county who happened to be present. There was a picnic dinner near where
the court house was afterward built, with plenty of com bread and a great
many other good things, and with a cask of home-brewed beer, brought
on an ox wagon by Jerry Marks from his place near Skunk river. The
celebration was attended by nearly all the residents of the county, and
some from counties adjacent, and many of whom came with ox teams and
started the day before so as to be on hand in time. Also "a Mr. Cory
from Cory's Grove beat upon a drum and was accompanied by a fife,
making a good deal more noise than tune, and that, taking the occasion
all together, it was notable and highly satisfactory."

Dr. Kellogg's journey to Keokuk prospered ; and in two weeks he was
back again, bringing the family belongings from the Mississippi town and
Mrs. Kellogg from Iowa Center.

SETTING UP HOUSEKEEPING.

The next day. July 13th, 1855, they set up housekeeping in a new
one-roomed log cabin which had been built by a man named Barndollar,
where on Chestnut street and Second avenue north, the B. F. Ambrose home
now stands. This was not according to the original plan of these settlers.
They had promised themselves a good framed house to live in ; but under
the circumstances they might as well have anticipated a palace. The one
or two sawmills in the county were feeble creations which, though great
conveniences, could supply but a tithe of the lumber needed for improve-
ments, and transportation from a distance was difficult and expensive. The
log house was the universal dwelling in Nevada, so in a log house the
Kelloggs set up their household goods. The habitation was unchinked,
was without doors or windows and the stock of boards had given out when
a small fraction of the loft was floored.

There was considerable to do to establish convenience, and meanwhile,
when the summer breeze was too obtrusive, quilts shut it out. Mr. Alder-

136 HISTORY OF STORY COUXTY

man had a small lot fenced and under cultivation over on what is now the
Emmet Armstrong residence lot, and the garden privileges of this plat
he kindly shared with the Kelloggs as with other of his neighbors, so that
seeds which had been brought from home, helped out by Mrs. Alderman's
stock of tomato and cabbage plants, and the wondrous soil, soon furnished
welcome promise. A barrel of dried fruits and other helps to comfortable
fare had come with the stores from Ohio; prairie chickens and venison
were plenty; and Alderman's store attracted from the country considerable
barter trade which helped out town supplies. The doctor's menu, however,
was not satisfactory without a good supply of butter ; hence when, one morn-
ing, the golden head for the "staff of life" was only the size of a walnut,
he started olT to hunt a cow. The game was found over near where Roland
is and she came home with him at night attached by a rope to the rear of
the buggy. She was a brindle creature on whose great wide horns were
engraved H. B.. the initials of her former owner. She had been quite
a traveler, having plodded with an immigrant train all of the way from
Indiana and had seen too many years for acceptability in the model dairy
of these days; but for many a year after coming into possession of the
Kelloggs she demonstrated her strain of good blood ; and her contribution
to the good fare and content of the pioneer home was inestimable.

Days wore on. the east door of the cabin and the west tloor materialized ;
the inside pointing of the log walls was accomplished and the outside
pointing would be done on the morrow. The new rag carpet which had
been brought from Ohio adorned the floor, and the dame's i)rettiest quilts
covered the fluffy feather beds, one below and the other on the fraction
of flooring above ; the window curtains were fresh and white, and home-
like feeling was growing, when, one night in .August, dark shut quietly
down. Indeed, the (|uict was intense, that calm which in tliis climate is
portentous.

EriSODK OK A STORM.

About midnigjit an electric storm broke, and lightning, wind, rain, and
thunder raged as though furies had been let loose. The man of the house
drew the bed and other articles of furniture away from the walls to save
them from the drip which came down liberally, and he advised his spouse
to arise and dress and be ready for emergencies. The bed. however, seemed
the safest place to her. and she covered her head to shut out the alniost
continuous glare. lUit directly there came a crash which bounced her
from the bed like a Jack from a box, and simultaneously Geo. A. from the
loft landed like a cat. beside his brother and sister, while a flood poured
down upon the three. Hastily each found a garment or two, pushed feet
into shoes that had become cisterns, and Dr. Kellogg said, "Come on."

"Where to?" was queried.

"Somewhere, anywhere, we can't stay here." was the answer.

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 137

As the storm beat from the northwest exit was by the east door; and
as the trio fled they walked over the roof of the house. Standing topsy-
turvy on the roof was the pride of the housekeeper, a jar of Ohio peach
preserves. There was an exclamation of dismay which was cut short by
mascuhne regard for things more vakiable than sweetmeats, and the com-
mand, "Come on." Their flight with the wind was at reasonable speed
but was exceeded by that of some of their belongings ; for, as something
white sailed overhead, Geo. A. exclaimed, "There goes my pillow!"

The way was not long to the McLain House, it was for the most part
hideously light, and in brief intervals of darkness Dr. Kellogg's flapping
suspenders echoed the oft repeated exhortation of his lips, "Come on."

At the door of the McLain House a rap was followed by quick en-
trance, and the party stood in the presence of the entire household of the
hotel. The boarders, J. C. Lovell, Isaac Walker, Geo. and Henry Staley,
Mr. Bennett and a couple of others whose names are not recalled, had
all forsaken ths clia«ibers and were grouped in the living room. Mrs.
McLain maintained her refuge, the curtained bed ; and to its warmth she
welcomed her shivering sister of the storm, in a comfortable robe. Mean-
time there had been a general scramble of masculines where the boarders
fitted out the refugees with the best which numerous trunks afforded.

It was two or three o'clock by the time sane conditions were restored
and the fury of the storm abated — too late for piecing out a night's sleep;
so jollity shortened the time till dawn, and after an early breakfast there
was general inspection of the work of the storm.

As has been intimated, the roof of the Barndollar house lay in the yard
and besides, the logs forming the upper west end of the house had been
blown in. Nearly every article that was in the loft had gone sailing, the
clock landing on sod several rods from the house, the feather bed in
Wilson Daily's little garden plat, the only really dirty spot within blocks.
The peach preserves, thanks to the consistency and the stout cloth tied
over them, were little the worse for the episode, and the Seth Thomas
clock, the work of a master of his art, was proof against vicissitude, and,
with opportunity restored, marked time for a generation afterward. Not
so fortunate were Dr. Kellogg's library and stock of medicines. The books
were soaked and tattered, and a whole year's supply of drugs was ruined.
The drugs had been mostly in dry packages for economy of bulk and
weight in transportation, as bottles, the doctor had mistakenly fancied,
could be procured at the new station. Here was a loss not readily repaired,
and it was keenly felt. While Doctor and Mrs. Kellogg were intently search-
ing, Geo. A. seemed wandering about absent-mindedly, and was chided for
not "hunting for something." He replied, "I am hunting for something"
but did not explain further.

The sequel appeared at dinner time at McLain's, when "one of the
boys" restored to him a carefully written sheet which had been found
where the storm had wrapped it around a twig down in the slough below

138 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

the site of the Lockridge house. The manuscript was a tender missive to
a lady friend and the storm had found it reposing in a magazine to await
the regular mail to Des Moines. Jokes were merciless but had to be
endured with fortitude.

One other house was unroofed that night. It was the original ])art of
tlie house just south oi I.. 11. Proctor's chvelling on Pine street; but for-
tunately it was unoccupied.

Several days were required to repair the Barndollar house and restore
belongings. During this interval the Kelloggs were entertained by the
E. G. Day family, who had recently come to Nevada and were occupy-
ing the log house which stood where the old Hutchins House does now.

DR. KKI.LOGG'.S FIR.ST P.\TIENT.

Dr. Kellogg's first professional call came the day after his arrival in
.Xcvada. John H. Keitjley from "beyond the Skunk." where .Ames is now,
chanced over to .AKlerman's store to trade, and there met the new doctor —
the "old doctor" being, by the way, a man younger in years and experience, —
Dr. T. \'. Adamson. whose father. "L'ncle Tommy .\danison." ke])t store
over on the \'inje corner.

When, toward night. Mr. Keiijley reached his home, he found his son
Jefiferson. a ten-year-old lad. badly hurt. The little fellow had been play-
ing on a lot of squared logs ready for housebuiUling and one of the tim-
bers had tumbled over on him, producing internal injuries. Mr. Keigley
owned the only two teams of horses in that neightxDrhood. One team was
dispatched to bring a physician from P.oone and the other for Dr. Kellogg
from Nevada. In council the elder practitioner from Boone said, "There
is not a chance of saving the jiatient." Dr. Kellogg said. "There is one
chance in a thousand." The agonized father said, "Make the most of
that chance." Dr. Kellogg maintained his watch beside the sufferer for
twenty-four hours, and had the joy of seeing the tide turn favorably. The
boy he saved is now a citizen of Portland, Oregon.

Thus, in one of the deepest experiences of life began a friendshij) be-
tween the Keigley and Kellogg familic-- tliat lias vied with the tie of blood.

IN TIIKIK OW.N Ni:W HOUSE.

l!y the middle of November the Kelloggs were living in a two-roomed
log house of their own. It stood just south of the present Handsakcr home
on Chestnut street. Now they felt established and were carrying the
responsibilities of citizenship. One of these responsibilities was the office
of sole agent for the sale of intoxicating liquors in Story County, an office
which unsolicited had been conferretl upon the doctor by the governor.
The government supplied the liquor, the authorized agent disbursed it. kept
records of sales and reported to |)roper authorities. The original packages

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 139

kept in the shed room of the Kellogg house were a source of anxiety and
care, and when the doctor was away, Mrs. Kellogg had to answer calls. So
many men came for whiskey or brandy for their suffering wives that the
sub-agent's sympathies were severely taxed. It was such a pity, she
thought, tiiat pioneer women should be so afflicted with poor health ! But,
two men coming only an hour or two apart, bringing the same bottle — a
bottle peculiarly marked with a dent in one side — set her to thinking, and
the second applicant failed in his quest. Again, when a reputable farmer
brought a new tea canister, (Alderman's store not having a bottle to spare)
and wished the canister filled with spirits for the home supply of camphor,
Mrs. Kellogg was credulous. But when, an hour later, the same canister
was presented for refilling on the plea that accident had emptied it, she saw
through the subterfuge. Frequent experiences of this sort made the office
distasteful to both the agent and his assistant, and after a while it was
gotten rid of.

THE FIRST SHADE TREE.

Now when chopping down and clearing away is one of the occupations
of the season, Mrs. Kellogg is reminded by contrast of the assiduity with
which she nurtured the first tree in Nevada of which she had knowledge.
The sprout came up spontaneously in her calf enclosure. It was a few
inches high when she discovered it, and she protected it with a shield of
poles. Judge R. H. Mitchell, who was a lover of nature, took interest
in the sprout and after a while discovered that it was an acacia. When,
some years later, Mrs. Kellogg removed to her lot farther south she took
the sapling with her and there it throve till a few years ago it was destroyed
by the stock which occupied the ground.

BEREAVEMENT.

On the morning of April 28, 1856, Dr. Kellogg was grooming his
horse preparatory to a ride with Mrs. Kellogg over to the McCartney place
on the East Indian where was to be held a Methodist quarterly meeting —
the first one in Story County. They both prized religious privileges and
anticipated a happy day. Instead, an imperative call took the physician
where life and death were battling. The struggle lasted some days and ere
it was past the doctor himself lay on a bed of pain. His comrade. Dr.
Carr, came over from Bloomlngton with best offices of friendship and medi-
cine ; but after six days the sufferer was gone. Bilious colic, the malady
was called, but Mrs. Kellogg thinks in the light of present day science it
was probably appendicitis. The patient shortly before the end, seeming to
feel his hold on life loosening, said, "If you see me going to sleep draw
your hand over my face and waken me." The wife did not fully under-
stand, and when at last her tender strokes adown his face failed in its pur-
pose, her surprise as well as distress was complete. Only thirty years old.

140 HISTORY OF STORY COUXTY

in the vigor of life, in the midst of winning an honorable way, and all
the world to her — how could such an entity slip out of sight forever!

"Teach me to feel another's woe, to bear another's grief." \o people
are credited with coming nearer to fulfilling this prayer than do those of
a pioneer community. Needs in emergency were many, resources few. It
was the custom of the Nevada neighborhood to bulletin at Alderman's
the orders which the stage driver should fill on the occasion of his next
weekly trip to Des Moines if he could. Sometimes articles ordered could
not be obtained, and sometimes the capacity of the stage was overtaxed.
In the latter case, first orders listed were the first ones filled. The Kelloggs
with others had ordered flour some weeks before, but extra passengers had
crowded heavy merchandise out. The morning after mourning began in
the Kellogg home, Mr. Alderman brought over a small sack of flour, and
setting it down said laconically, "Use this."

"But it is all you have." Mrs. Kellogg objected, for she knew the con-
dition of Mrs. Alderman's larder.

"It doesn't matter; we can eat corn meal till more flour comes;" and
the true friend turned away to avoid further remonstrance. "I tell you."
Mrs. Kellogg says, "such kindness as that went to my heart ; it has never
been forgotten."

Everybody was kind, Michael Drain, one of nature's noblemen who
was employed to scour the country for cattle for Butcher Turtle, and who
had been accustomed to bring proudly to the doctor his good letters from
kindred in Ireland — letters which testified to the excellent stock from which
the alien came, claimed the privilege of watching at night, "I should not
feel right," he said, "not to do something for so good a friend." Smith
Goodin paused in his work on the new court house to make the black wal-
nut coffin, and on the third (iay after death — it was Friday, May 14 — the
newly laid floor of the court house was cleared of litter, seats were im-
provised, and the funeral was held, (irief dulled impression of details. A
Baptist farmer preacher conducted the service, and neighbors tenderly gave
earth to earth. The first long grave made in the Nevada cemetery and
the short one beside it which had been made eleven months before, now
tokened all that tlic widowed pioneer held dear.

.XLON'E.

The offering of the Hindoo woman who throws herself on a funeral
I)yre might have seemed easy to the lone mourner far from kindred. The
brown earth relieved by" not one twig of green — for the season was very
late, an<l grass and trees were native only — accorded with her mnod.

Hut however lightly the oriental woman may cast off the burden of
life, the woman in the Christian Occident has to carry it, and ha])])ilv, her
way is seldom utterly cheerless. Mrs. Kellogg was blessed with health,
she had manual dexterity, love of activity, sympathy with her kind and

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HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 141

with everything else that God has made, and in the midst of kind friends
her days and nights were never utterly desolate; and when in October she
gave birth to a daughter, of course purpose was renewed. Her kindred
never ceased their importunities for her to return and live with them.
They would defray the expense of travel any time, and hearts and homes
would welcome her. Often, beginning with the disaster of the storm, she
had declared, "If I ever see Ohio again I will stay there."

Yet when with her little six-year-old daughter she did set foot amid
the old haunts again, it was to find the changed conditions which are in-
evitable with time and to which she felt unsuited ; and, after a protracted
visit, she was glad to resume relations with the pioneer people of which
she was one, and to work out the problem of livelihood amid primitive con-
ditions and abiding sympathy. Dr. Kellogg had more than once said, "If
you were to be left alone you'd pull through somehow. It would be easier
for you than for those women who always stay in the house." She did
pull through, and she says today, "Though my life has been checkered, it
has on the whole been happy." Those who know her, regard her life a
genuine success. Contented, comfortable, hopeful, busy with good works,
and cheered by affection, her age is passing as age should pass, and towns-
people wish for their esteemed and earliest surviving citizen continuation
of best blessings.

Tol. I— 1 0

CIIAi'TER XV.
PIOXEER IXTER\IEWS BY MRS. .A. .M. PAVXE.

iMKS. CI-.MDINl-; WHEELER A PIOXEER OK GR.\.\T TOW.NSllIl'.

With the arrival of the summer of 1856, George Wheeler, a young
Chicagoan, decided to hcamic a i)ionecr. He had lately spent a couple of
years in Louisiana, and now that he had secured a helpmeet he would try
the newer and more attractive west. Iowa was the land of promise, he
would join the procession moving thither. The tarry there should be but
a year or two. however, then, with scrip rei)lenished by the rise and sale
of lands, permanent home and business should be established among friends
in Chicago.

In furtherance of tliis plan, .\lr. Wheeler purciiased from tiie govern-
ment the quarter section of land whereon now stands Enterprise school
house, in Grant Township, Story County, Iowa, and spent some weeks
of July and August on it preparatory to residence thereon. Having car-
ried with him from Chicago the necessary doors and windows and a few
other articles for building, he erected and enclosed a dwelling superior to
the average pioneer shack, in that it included a chamber, a good cellar and
a chimney of bricks instead of sticks and mud. lie also put uji his winter
.supply of hay. Real estate was on the boom, and he was offered a liberal
price for his land and outfit but chose to await further advance. Return-
ing to Chicago, he and Mrs. Wheeler .set out early in September on their
wedding journey.

Their outfit was a three-hor.se team and a hght wag.m. furni-JRd with
an easy spring seat, and carrying a ton (if household goods and supplies.
In accordance with the excursion idea, their trip was by easv stages, nights
and Sundays being sj^ent rest fully at hostelries or homes along the way,
and occupied more than two weeks. Hope and rejoicing glorified the
beautiful landscape till the border of Tama County was reached. There
the fretiuent (juestion, "Where are you going?'" and its usual answer, "To
Nevada, Story County," were followed by the depressing statement, "Fires
set by Indians have been sweeping across Story, Marsliall and i)art of
Tama Counties; and, unless you left some one to care for your improve-
ments, they are probably wiped off."

142

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 143

Soon the travelers came upon black proofs that the grim rumor had
foundation — proofs which increased the farther they advanced.

The relief experienced at the journey's end when their house and stacks
were found unscorched. may be guessed more easily than told, as may
also their gratitude to their neighbor, Mr. Jacob Erb, who lived about a
mile to the northwest of them, and who, unasked, when destruction was
sweeping toward the unoccupied property, bad plowed the firebreak which
saved it. His act was an expression of that good fellowship common
among pioneers, which welcomed every new settler as a brother, and sought
in all neighborliness to make his stay permanent. The succeeding winter
of "56 and '57 was one of unprecedented severity and has left indelible
impressions on the memory of Mrs. Wheeler. One vivid recollection is
of the blizzard in which Mr. Wheeler was caught one day when returning
from Xevada. There was not a house on the way — six miles — snow cov-
ered the ground, the thick storm shut out every landmark, and the traveler
lost his course. The cold was intense, and wandering about must not last
long as he would perish. Unable himself to steer, he gave the horses
rein, and the faithful beasts took him to his own door. He was suffer-
ing intensely, but the comfort of his rescuers was gratefully looked after
before his own. In spite of precautions, however, the hardship suffered
by the animals resulted in the death of one of them.

A snow bank heaped half way to the top of the east window whereon
were wolf tracks, tokened that vegetation was shut ofif from foragers. The
autumn fire having destroyed the stacks as well as buildings on many a
farm, feed could not be obtained at any price, shelter was insufficient, and
the loss of stock from starvation and cold was very large. One man liv-
ing between Nevada and State Center, who had brought out a lot of
oxen for the purpose of doing a large amount of breaking, lost every ani-
mal. The field southwest of Nevada known as the boneyard received num-
berless contributions. The severity and suffering were felt in Illinois as
well as in Iowa, and the condition of stock, when the season ended, was
well expressed, Mrs. Wheeler says, by the following "Ode to Spring,"
addressed to the tardy sea.son by an indignant farmer and published in
the Prairie Farmer of that date. We give a part of the address only ;

"Now you've cum wen everybody's feed and corn and things hev all
been fed out! Now luk at our kritters, will ye? See our katel on the
lift, hevin to be steddied by their tales whin they gits up mornings. Look
at our bosses wats all rejuiced to skeletons, a weepin' over a troft — a hull
troft full of holes. A hull troft full of bitter rekulekshuns !

"Now look at them hogs, as has ben following them katel wat hev bin
stuft with ha! See 'em, will ye, a creepin' roun as if they'se tetched with
korns ! Look at their eres, will ye — bigger than enny cabbich lefe ! See
the shotes a lenin onter the fens to squele ! Look at them mity eres a
hangin' pendent onto sich littel hogs!"

144 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

After this dreadful winter tliere was no sale for land and occupancy
had to be made the most of. Mrs. Wheeler reflects that business in Chi-
cago, had Mr. Wheeler engaged in it as he had thought of doing, would
have yielded even poorer returns. There the financial depression would
have sunk his all. Here the land was left.

Lack of market was a sorry trial for many a year after feed had be-
come plenty. Butter carried to Iowa Center brought but ten cents per
pound ; and a fine Suffolk sow which the Wheelers had brought from
Chicago in '57, being slaughtered with several of her progeny, each of
which dressed weighed 500 lbs., and the lot sent by team the 120 miles to
Iowa City — the nearest railway station — there brought but i^S cents per
lb. The resulting disappointment and hardship were sore indeed. The
Pike's Peak craze in '38 and '59 raised prices. J. C. Lovell, fitting out for
the trip, paid Mrs. Wheeler 40 cents a pound for butter. She did not get
rich from her sales, however, for sheeting cost 40 cents a yard, and the
sleaziest kind of calico 20 cents.

An Indian scare was one of tlic unhapiiy e.xpericnces brought by war
time. The i'.ushwliackers of Missouri sent terror up even into central Iowa.
Wfird came that they had hired Indians to massacre the whites on Iowa
farms, that men prone to swell the Union army might be ke])t at home.
Settlers in some quarters scared by this rumor were precipitately leaving
their claims and fleeing to Fort Dodge or back to the east. While apjire-
hension was wide awake, Mrs. Wheeler one summer day sat sewing on
her doorstep. She was alone, even the dog being gone, and glancing around
she saw two men mounted on ponies coming over the hill. Watching their
approach it became evident that they were Indians, both of whom wore
belts stuffed with knives and pistols which glistened in the sunlight. She
thought her doom at hand. Retreating into the house, she fastened the
door, drew down the shades, and with quaking limbs awaited the next.
Before the house resounded whoops, each yell renewing terror such as
blanches hair in a niL;ht. 'i lun all was still. Silence increased suspense
till it became uncMilurable. Rallying strength, the trembling woman raised
a back window, stei)i)ed out and peeped around the house. Lo, the enemy
was gone. One Indian was disappearing in the distance, and the other
was tarrying before the house of Xeighbor U. S. Nourse, a quarter of a
mile distant. And this was Mrs. Nourse's experience:

She was quite alone when a whoop before the door called her attention,
and the comer held up a paper which evidently had some message for her.
She answered the call, not daring to do otherwise, and read on the paper
a written request that whatever the bearer asked for be given him. Said
bearer peremptorily demanded "meat." and indicated the size of the piece
that would be satisfactory by measuring the length of his arm quite to
tire shoulder. The frightened woman quickly brought from her meat
barrel the biggest piece she could lay hands on, and made it a peace offer-

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 145

ing. She confessed later that the entire contents of the barrel would have
gone jtist as readily, had it been the price of the caller's departure; and
Mr. Nourse was accustomed jokingly to declare that he could no more
leave home for this purpose or that, because it was necessary for him to
guard his pork barrel.

Indians troubled the neighborhood no more for some time ; but the
nervous strain occasioned by the visit noted was a misfortune from which
Mrs. Wheeler's health has never fully recovered. And the scare was
wholly needless. The alarming rumor had originated with claim jumpers
from Chicago for the express purpose of scaring away settlers who had
filed on their land but had not proved up. The callers belonged to the
Tama band, and were only on a begging expedition.

BLYLER DID NOT LIKE IT.

In connection with the foregoing there is a letter of F. F. Blyler of
Polk County, old soldier and veteran politician, whose father appears to
have been pursuaded by Mr. Wheeler to come to Story County, but who
entered the county from the wrong side, was disappointed and sold out,
and went away. Mr. Blyler in his fiftieth year in Polk County and in
Iowa wrote of the family migration into and out of Story County as follows:

In April, 1857, father sold his property in Summit County, Ohio, and
invested the proceeds in horses, wagons, boots and shoes and matches. He
shipped these from Wellsville, Ohio, to Keokuk, and came from there
overland to Des Moines. The family remained in Ohio. At Des Moines
he met an old Ohio friend named Wheeler who had some Story County
land. Wheeler described the land and location as being about 4 miles
west of Nevada, and father soon traded for 100 acres of it. This he did
without going to see the land, relying entirely on his friend's representa-
tions. He also traded for other lands until his stock was exhausted and
then returned to Ohio and made preparation to move to Iowa — which we
did in September, 1857.

Father had arranged with some one to rent a new hotel just about com-
pleted in Nevada. Whether he rented from Wheeler or not I don't know.
But we left Ohio intending to settle in Nevada in the hotel business. Which
house it was I don't know. Iowa City then was the nearest railroad point.
We came by rail as far as Davenport and from there drove across the
country to Nevada with our own team, which we had brought from Ohio.
We passed on up through Cedar, Iowa, Tama. Marshall and Story Coun-
ties. Father liked all of these counties except Story County and this last,
of course, in that early day he saw from the wrong side. We came by
the way of Marietta, then the county seat of Marshall County. We drove
straight through and naturally had to pass over the low wet lands of east-

146 lilSTUKV OF STURV COUNTY

ern Story, probably near Colo and mucb the same route now traveled by
rail (about where Marshall-Story ditch Xo. i is even now helping to
transform the face of the countr)). This was early in October. 1857, the
weather was fine, but the roads were bad in that then low, swamjn' coun-
try. Houses were few and far between, as the settlements were found only
where there was timber, along Indian creek and Skunk river, and around
the groves, and dt course none of these were found on the roads east of
Xevada.

After much exertion wo arrived in Xevada. one horse was sick and
father was already sick of the country, and when he found that his land
did not lie just where W'iieeler told him. but about two miles farther away,
he became disgusted and was ready to take the back track without even
going to see his land, wliich was located some 6 miles west and south, and
was really in a good country and no doubt was good land and in a loca-
tion which would have suited him all right, for over there could be seen
some very nice hills and a good deal of timi)er. lie never saw tlu- land
and after the war traded it off for a song. Tliis siiowed jraor judgment
on his part, but more especially his disgust for Story County.

Early impressions of course are the most lasting, and father never for-
got the low wet prairies of eastern Story, now the richest and finest farm-
ing country in Iowa. Last fall I took a drive over this country and for a
week visited in and about Maxwell and Cok). and visited the remains of
many of the old orchards whicii I had sold to the early settlers as they be-
j.;an to scatter over these prairies. My wife and little granddaughter were
with me and as 1 would ])oint out the orchards to her wliich I had furnished
years before, she was nuich suri)rised. Many trees arc yet bearing fine
fruit, but the most of them are dead. The little girl wanted to know why
so many of them were dead. I told her a generation had passed since
1 sold those trees and that one by one they passed away, the same as did
the people who bought iIkih, most ni whom are also gone. Way out near
Colo I found Elmore and Ciiarles Dolph who were playmates of mine in
Ohio more than lifty years ago. They lived on one side of the street and
we on the other in the little village from whicli we came to this ct)untry.

To me Iowa always has been an inspiration. 1 know of no sjjot on
earth wliich excels it and 1 now know of no better county tiian Story.
But Iowa counties are all good, and the lands that were once rejected as
being too low and wet. are fast becoming the most beautiful ami fertile
lands of Iowa. Although but 1 1 years of age when we came to Iowa, yet
I was at once enamored with its beauties. Its changes have been as rapid
as the kaleido.scope, and all the time from good to belter. h"or fifty years
1 have watched these changes anil to me they seem wonderful and incom-
prehensible, and the man or woman who now owns a farm in eastern Story
County is certainly in luck. Fifty years are a long time and one can look

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 147

back and see the many opportunities passed by and see their mistakes along
the Hne, and yet perhaps we are not to blame after all.

F. F. Blyler.

W. W. SPRING. ON SOU.\W FORK IN 1855.

]\Ir. W. W. Spring of Grant Township became a resident of Story
County on the 17th of November, 1855. He carries the weight of eighty
years, yet maintains interest in the march of human events both near and
afar. Mr. and Mrs. Spring celebrated their golden wedding in 1905. They
abide in a new dwelling on the farm which has been theirs for quite half
a century, although their immediate settlement in the county was with
others of their migrating company along Squaw Fork, west of Skunk river,
their farm being first east of Skunk river in Grant Township.

Mr. Spring and one sister, who is two years his senior and has her home
in Kansas, are the last of a family of thirteen who grew up in Owen
County, Indiana. His mother passed away when he was a babe and a new
mother took her place. An incident which he relates as illustrative of the
early age to which his memory goes back, indicates also that the new
mother gave to him the tenderness, as well as the care without which in-
fancy does not thrive. The incident is of an unlucky fall when he was
eighteen months old, which resulted in his striking his head on a kettle
and cutting it badly, and of his step-mother binding up the wound and
kissing him. Pleasanter is this impression brought down through the long
years than is the one resulting from paternal strictures which turned
Sunday into a day of dread — a day when to use the lad's jack-knife was
to forfeit it, and to indulge in sport of any sort was to incur a whipping.

FROM INDI.\N.\ TO IOW.\.

The boy became a man, and married the daughter of Samuel Coffelt of
his own neighborhood. When, in 1855, the first babe of the young married
])air was four weeks old, they became a part of the migration of the Cofifelt
tribe and their kindred to the promising fields of Iowa. The senior CoiTelt
had prospected in the new country a few years before and had filed on
choice lands along the Skunk river in the interest of his five sons and his
son-in-law, as well as for himself. So they started out in hope, even though
adversity rested rather heavily on the -Spring contingent. Mr. Spring had
been ill all summer — ague had shaken away his flesli and strength, had
consumed opportunity and his small savings, and now without adequate
means and with good prospect of filling an early grave on the new soil,
he left the home land assured that in the leaving was his best chance for
life.

There were twenty-five people in the company, seven wagons, of which
three belonged to Mr. Coffelt, and a lot of stock for use on the new lands.

148 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

Mr. Spring's share of this outfit was a single horse, one cow (which soon
went dry), a yoke of two-year-old steers, a few housekeeping articles, and
$2.50 in cash which latter went for ferryage before they were out of
Indiana.

The journey was little more than begun, when Mrs. Spring was pros-
trated with fever, and from that time she was not carried from the wagon
till the train had reached Saylorville, in Polk County. Meantime this fever
having ileprived the babe of nature's food supply, trouble was doubled.
Baby foods which stock the market now had not been invented, and the
best substitute which emergency could supply was corn bread soaked in
coffee. But the baby throve, and continued to develop beautifully till, when
it was two years old, an attack of membranous croup proved too much for
the best efforts of Dr. Carr of New Philadelphia, and carried the little one
off.

Mr. Coffelt killed a deer on the journey to Iowa which helped out the
meat supply.

The company landed on the bank of Squaw creek, November 15, 1855,
and the CofTelts and Springs prepared to become residents of Story County.

GETTING A START.

Without money enough to buy a meal, in a new land and returning
strength still scant, the planting of a home at the beginning of winter was
exceedingly difficult and its best results were very primitive. Poles driven
between the logs of the cabin serv'ed for a bedstead whose ridges a thin
feather bed only partially disguised, a bed covering all too scant in supply,
was far from affording proof against cold. And O, the problem of sub-
sistence! Mr. Spring remembers that corn bread was the stajile. that there
was no meat but wild meat, and no milk or butter. What a tale Mrs. Spring
might tell of the perriexities of the housekeeper in those days! Spring-
time brought wild onions, and slight variation in fare which was wel-
comed indeed. But the health of Mr. Spring came back, and through-
out the spring he, like Abraham the Good, split rails. He received fifty
cents per hundred for his work, and once only accomplished the splitting
of 500 rails in a day.

After that his main work for about eight years was breaking. He broke
nearly all of the area which Ames now covers, using from four to seven
yokes of oxen before a twenty-seven-inch breaking blow and wading some
of the time through water up to his knees. He turned the prairie sod
of the agricultural college farm, of the state fair ground at Des Moines,
and of many another tract now covered with fine improvements.

Mr. Spring does not seem to have been passionately fond of hunting, but
the hunting microbe did work in his blood on one occasion, and with a squirrel
rifle and his obedient dog he set out to find a deer whose big tracks were
evidence that if he could be brought down he would be game worth having.

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 149

The dog got the scent and led in the hunt for a mile or two along the timber
skirting Squaw Creek. His master had difficulty now and then in control-
ling canine enthusiasm, but was successful until all at once out came a sharp
yelp. Then lo ! from a thicket close at hand sprang the identical object of
their search, and, both dog and man being now silent and motionless, the
magnificent fellow with great branching horns, turned and seemed to make
a study of them. He was less than 50 paces away, but surprise, wonder and
admiration engrossed the hunters, and the gun was not thought of. Dog
instinct resumed activity before the hunter's did, and a second yelp sent
fleet-foot bounding up to the brow of the bluff. There he turned to ob-
serve his pursuers again, and the hunter sent a shot after the fellow. He
was hardly sorry it was not effective, and that the grand creature retained
his God-given liberty. It was Mr. Spring's first and only shot at a deer.

For the first three years the new settlers went to New Philadelphia for
their mail. Between them and Nevada the awful Skunk intervened, and
miles of prairie travel were not comparable to the crossing of the river bot-
tom in time of high water. The mail went to New Philadelphia however by
way of pony express from Nevada, unless the Skunk blocked its passage.
Such a time occurred in the spring of 1857. For three long weeks no mail
had crossed westward, and all of this time Mr. Spring had anxiously awaited
the receipt of $50 which was to come from his father in Ohio. The sum was
to help the young pioneer on to his feet, and he chafed at delay.

"The worst '11 be over in another week of two," comforted the P. M. at
New Philadelphia.

"You give me an order on the postmaster at Nevada and I'll have the
worst over in less time than that," answered the impatient settler.

The order was given and Mr. Spring started the next morning to execute
it. Tramping northward from his home as far as D. R. Craig's, he was
rowed across the river in Mr. Craig's canoe; then he came southward to
Milo McCartney's and there passed the night. He came to Nevada the
next forenoon, presented his order to Postmaster Alderman and received
the mail. The letters were consigned to him in an old oil-cloth satchel of
which the postmaster kept the key, and the papers were in a common meal
sack. Nevada's attractions were not sufficient to overcome the urgency of
business, so he soon took the trail back to McCartney's, where, the hour
being too late for undertaking the perilous crossing, he again spent a night.

McCartney had no boat, but by daylight he was able to point out a cross-
ing place which would save the round-about journey by way of Craig's.
Flood covered, but did not wholly hide, the footlog which spanned the main
channel of the Skunk. This Mr. Spring crossed without accident, and then
he struggled across the three-quarters of a mile of river bottom, through
water waist high, the sack of papers reposing on his head, and the satchel
of letters held aloft in one hand.

150 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

■'1 kept the mail dry though," lie says with satisfaction, "and the next
day I crossed Squaw Creek in my own log canoe, took Uncle Sam's pack-
ages to Ontario, and got my money."

REMINISCENCE OF NEVADA'S FIRST SCHOOLHOUSE.

"The ferry," he continues, "was mighty handy in those days of high
water and no bridges. The canoe which 1 had made out of a hollow log
served good turns to many besides myself, and I did quite a business in the
ferrying line for a few years. George Drake of Swedes Point was the
builder of Nevada's early school house — the brick one which stood east of
the present Lockridge residence. I used to ferry him across twice a week,
on his way to and from his work, the team swimming.

"Speaking of the Nevada school house reminds me that 1 furnished tiie
shingles for its roof. I helped myself to a tree after the manner in vogue
among settlers in that day, and Father Coffelt sawed it in his shingle mill.

"Then 1 hired Dolpluis Kintzley to helj) me draw the shingles to Nevada
;ill ill one load. We had not only a big loail. liut a big time. The roads
were simply awful. 1 had three yoke of oxen and Dolphus two; we got
Thomas lUack'> big, wide-tired prairie schooner to complete the outtit, and
my two brothers-in-law and Kintzley's brother came along to liel]) tiirough
emergencies. When the shingles hail been delivered at the building site, the
boys began celebration of their achievement in frontier style. There was
some remonstrating but it did not ])revail. Dr. .\ilamson was the county
agent for selling the 'o-be-joyful" and to him went a certain long-necked
bottle several tiiues. besides the last time, when, in disguise, it went minus
its neck. Of course it was presented by a diti'crent messenger each time.

"The return tri]) was slightly hilarious, but gootl fellowshi]) rather than
ill humor prevailed: and this fellowslii]) found vigorous expression over on
the McCartney Jiiil wliere an emigrant uullit was found stalled. The boys
and two or three yoke of cattle made a jolly job of relieving the troubles of
the mover and starting him off on the lirm turf rejoicing."

.MRS. II.VRRIKT STULTZ — 1857 .\M) L.XTKR.

"It is just fifty years since we came to Story County." remarked -Mrs.
Harriet Stultz reflectively, as she sat before the lire in the living room of
her comfortable cottage at the corner of Court Avenue and Chestnut streets,
where she and her daughter, Ida, who had lately become Mrs. WooJ. have
resided for the past fifteen years. Fifty years means a great deal in a hu-
man life, and a great deal in the changed conditions of a frontier state.

Harriet Mathers first saw the light on a farm near Orleans, Orange
county, Indiana. She was the youngest of nine children, and March, 1857,
she was wedded to her neighbor, young Daniel Stultz, who had grown up on
a nearby farm. The bridegroom, having sometime before imbibed the west-

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 151

ern fever, had spent a summer over in Iowa and had located a forty-acres
near Story City, in the county of Story, on which the hopes of the young
pair were doing such castle-rearing as was appropriate to youthful prime.

In April, five weeks after the wedding, they set their faces toward their
destination. Their outfit consisted of a team and wagon, their clothing, beds
and bedding, $200 in money, and cooked provisions to last them on the road.
They rested Sundays and made slow progress week days, for flats were yet
soft with the spring deluge, streams were high and bridges rare. They fre-
quently made but twenty-five miles a day. They crossed the Mississippi by
ferry at Keokuk, then made their way over fair plains garlanded with tim-
ber and checkered with prairies and "island groves," till the line between
Marion and Jasper counties were reached. Here they tarried through the
summer and raised a crop on hired land. In the fall they completed their
journey to Story City, and prepared to grow up with their adopted state.

Story City did not then exist. The little settlement was known as Fair-
view, and comprised only John J. Foote, Noah Hardin, William Wier, L.
R. Larson and F. A. Rhoades and their respective families. The first school
house was being erected. The church of that vicinity had been built by the
Norwegians about a mile away in the edge of the timber on the east side of
Skunk river. Some time later it was torn down and rebuilt at Story City.

The Sttiltzes found shelter at Faii-view till, after several months, they
bought a small house of somebody and removed it to their little farm. Then
with their own roof above them they were truly at home. But upon the
happiness of this first home on their own acres, a shadow quickly fell, and
the first spring there was the darkest time that is chronicled in Mrs. Stultz's
recollections of pioneering. One of their horses slipped, broke his leg and
had to be killetl. The crop to be put in could not wait, and they had no
money. Their extremity was great. Then the kindliness which is char-
acteristic of the pioneer community, found expression through Mr. Solomon
Sowers. He had a horse of his own which his son Lindsey with whom he
was living did not need for farm work, so it was generously loaned to fill
the breach made by the loss of the Stultz horse. Thus pluck and neighborly
kindness tided over one trial after another.

But after three years came a still deeper experience. Mr. Mathers, back
in the old home in Indiana, was critically ill, and wished to look once more
upon his youngest daughter. Of course she must go to him, though there
were mountains to be overcome. To begin with, it was spring of the year
and travel to Iowa City, the nearest railway point, was temporarily sus-
pended. Delay was inevitable till passage with some teamster could be se-
cured. In the second place, the Stultz family now comprised two babies.
This complication was provided for by securing Mr. and Mrs. Lars Larson
to come and keep the house, the husband and the elder babe. After a week's
delay, the journey was begun, Mrs. Stultz and her infant being gratuitous
passengers of Jason D. Ferguson, a young man whose heroism and death in
the Civil \Var are now memorialized in tiie name of the Grand Army Post

152 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

at Nevada. Ferguson and Asa Griffith were each with his team going to
Iowa City for merchandise.

Mrs. Stultz's trip to Indiana being finished, she met the sorrowful fact
tliat her father's earthly life ended the day her homeward journey began.
She prolonged her visit with her kindred for over two months, and then
safely wended her way back to the husband and little one from whom she
had been separated. She took back, too, some temporal helps for increasing
pioneer comfort — little aids to household convenience, money which bought
back the wagon that had been swapped off for a horse to complete the team,
and which also bought a timber lot. After this small boost things went
easier. The original acres were subsequently sold and two or three changes
followed which in 1875 established the family home on the 160 on Indian
Hill in Milford township, on which the life of Mr. Stultz closed in 1881 and
which is still the property of the Stultz family.

Still resources continued scanty for many a day. Children were not
pampered. There was choice between no fare at all and the usual fare of corn
bread and butter or gravy, vegetables and a bit of meat, washed down with
barley coffee unsweetened, or with milk or cold water. The cookery of that
time with no sweet at all except a little homemade sorghum, contrasted
strongly with the culinary concoctions of today when the annual average
consumption of sugar is seventy pounds per head. A little sugar did come
to the local market occasionally, but the price was high and the pioneer had
no money to buy with. However, plenty of fresh air and e.xercise, hope
and endeavor, provided sauce for such dishes as were possible, and nature
converted the edibles into robustness and contentment.

Considerable ingenuity went into the manufacture of garments for chil-
dren. Of course there was the utilization of every bit of cloth that still had
wear in it, provided the thread supply held out ; while, as to footwear, home-
spun yarn was knitted into stockings ; and wooden shoes of home manufact-
ure for adults as well as children were often supplemented with rawhide or
cloth moccasins. A prize for faculty in meeting the footgear emergency
was due to Mrs. Newnum who herself whittled out a last and made shoes
for her children out of old boot legs, using a scythe stone for a hammer.

The war brought trials that were sore. But prices were better, and
Mrs. Stultz remembers corn bringing a dollar a bushel.

Mrs. Stultz now, in the serenity of her rest time, looks back upon the
struggles of her early and middle life, with thankfulness for the discipline
which developed appreciation and not bitterness.

MRS. JOHN MCCAIN. HICKORY GROVE IN '54.

Mrs. McCain, now of Colo, was born Phoebe Catharine Wheatley, Jan-
uary 20, 1847, in Hamilton county, Indiana. She came when a child of
seven years with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Allen Wheatley, to Story
County, Iowa. They arrived July 20, 1854, and settled on a farm then in-

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 153

eluded in New Albany township, but now, in the southeast part of Nevada
township, on the southern edge of what has been known as the Hickory
Grove neighborhood. The Brouhards were already in that neighborhood,
and settlement by the Thomases, Mullens, Johns, Waltzes, McGuires, Dyes
and Fords occurred soon after.

Mrs. McCain remembers that there were only three houses in Nevada
when she first saw the town and the same number in Iowa Center. Mr.
Wheatley, her father, broke the sod of his farm with his oxen, and planted a
home with hard work after the manner of pioneers in general. Alderman's
store at Nevada afforded the settlers small supplies, but for lumber to be
used in building and for flour, stoves and numerous other necessities there
had to be trips to Des Moines or some trade center farther away. Fuel
was supplied by the nearby timber and fencing was fashioned as Abraham
Lincoln fashioned it. Farming methods were simple, hay being cut with the
scythe, and grain, with the cradle.

The Wheatley cabin had but one room, but out-of-doors widened its
capacity, and the various processes included in cloth manufacture, and in
making up the garments of the family, were daily employments of the house-
hold as much as was caring for subsistence. Sheep were kept, and subse-
quent to shearing time came wool washing, picking and greasing; and after
the carding had been done at Des Moines, the spinning, dyeing, doubling and
twisting, knitting and making up, filled a large share of the year. Aunt Sally
Mullin, Mother Spurgeon or Mrs. John Belcher generally helped out on the
weaving, and sometimes wool was exchanged at the factory for cloth. Re-
ligious services were attended occasionally at some home in the neighbor-
hood, and sometimes in the school house at Iowa Center, transportation be-
ing generally with the ox-team. The elder sons of the Wheatley family,
James, Thomas and Luke, tramped to schools three or four miles away ;
but Phoebe, the little daughter, had to pick up the fundamentals of an educa-
tion at home excepting for a two months' term of attendance at the school
which, after a time, was established in the home district.

Mrs. McCain says, "All went fine till the war came. Then there was
sorrow. My brothers James and Thomas enlisted to fight for our country —
and we said good bye to them not expecting to see them again. No one
knows the trial except those who have experienced it. Our forebodings
proved true in regard to James, as his life closed at St. Louis, Missouri,
January lo, 1862 ; but Thomas lived to become a citizen of Nampa, Idaho,
from which town he passed on January 2d, 1906."

Mr. Wheatley closed his life December 15, 1870, on the farm he had im-
proved. Mrs. Wheatley survived till January 22, 1909, her last years hav-
ing been spent with her daughter, Mrs. McCain.

CURTIS A. WOOD BOYHOOD IN INDI.\N CREEK.

Curtis A. Wood, former sherifl^ of Story County and now living in Chi-
cago, was reminded of some boyhood memories when he first read the

ir)4 HISTORY OF STORY COUXTY

reminiscences, elsewhere noted, of his father, the now venerable W. K.
Wood, who first settled, where he yet resides, on the east side of Indian
Creek below Iowa Center, early in 1852. Tiie son's recollections were of
this order:

One of Curtis' most vivid recollections of life in the home log cabin per-
tains to his first pair of boots. He thinks he was six years old when they
came. Up to this date his good mother had manufactured his winter foot-
gear— a sort of moccasins — out of cloth and skins. At other seasons his
feet had been shod with only tan. There was not a pair of boy's boots in
Iowa Center or vicinity, nor had the sight of a pair ever gladdened tiie
child's eyes. Berch Young kept a very small store at the settlement then,
but his stock was not extensive enough to include boy's boots. At length
there came an auspicious day when the indulgent sire, on his return froni
Des Moines, presented his two eldest sons. Cory and Curtis, each with a
pair of red-topped, copper-tipped boots. Jim. the toddk-r. must still wear
moccasins. O. the delight of those boots! Cory said. "Xow let's grease
them gcKxl so as to make them last a long time." .A lump of tallow was
sacrificed and rubbed into tlie leather thoroughly and affectionately; they
were compared in all ])articulars to determine points of likeness and of
difference; and then were set on the hearth before the fire to let the grease
"dry in" and complete the work. The boys hovered aroun<l and watched in-
tently till they thought tlie i,M-case was "dry." and then took up the treasures
to examine them. Lo. they were crisped, and ready to fall in pieces ! .\ever
was disappointment sorer. Curt's eyes are dim even now when he remem-
bers the grief of that hour.

He recalls a later date, when tlie boys of the neigliborlKHKl were Delos
and Jeremiah and Hiram Shoop. Al)ner .Moore, John and William and War-
ren .Maxwell. Dwight Sheldon. James White. Joseph McCowen. Clifford
I'unk. and Cory. Curtis and James Wood. These youths were scattered over
adjacent farms within a radius of four miles. Tliev thought nothing of
fiioting it to the farthest of their homes after chores were done, to i)lay hide
and seek in the moonlight till eleven o'clock, then to tramj) home and sleep
in the i)arn so as not to disturb the folks. Xow and then a hor.se w'as
sneaked out of the barn and three boys rcnle off on its back.

The farmer had a good chance at the wide prairie. He could take as big
a hay claim as he could manage. Most of the land was owned by non-resi-
dents, and the billowy grass was beautiful. .\ man would mow a swath
with a -McCormick mower taking in as nuich area as he could use. tiien
would cut the expan.se across again and again to lay it off into "lands" and
would harvest the grass at his convenience. Cattle and hogs ran at will.
The cattle of the well-to-do farmer were rounded-up at night into pounds.
The swine foraged in the woods till winter, and each owner's were marked.
The ear mark known as "two swallow forks" told that the animal was Mr.
Wood's, and "one swallow fork and an under-bit" said that it was Lot
Morris's.

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 155

Mr. Wood was a care-taker, the son testifies, and never let any animal
sufl^er if he could help it. He would stay out all night attending a sick brute,
and would carry a sack of corn on his back a mile to a swine mother with
her little ones down in the woods. "And he was not less kind to his house-
hold," is the filial tribute. "He never skimped anything for the comfort of
his family."

CHAPTER X\L
EARLY DAYS IX HOWARD.

H. D. BALLARD — "57 AND LATIiR.

Of the old families in Story County none has been better or more favor-
ably known in its time than the family of old Dr. Ballard, who settled in the
southwest part of Howard township in 1857. To this family belonged Rus-
sell W. Ballard, who was twice supervisor of the county, Mrs. Harry H.
Boyes, and Mrs. H. F. Ferguson, both long residents of Howard township
but now with their husbands, recently removed to Nevada; Deville P.
Ballard, who was a captain in the 23d Iowa and was once elected
county clerk, others also less known in the county, and Henry D.,
who after residing at Radclifte and Webster City is now located in a pros-
perous old age at Primghar in O'Brien county. There are few if any of the
old-timers who are in better position than the last named to tell of the early
exjjeriences of the .settlers in Story County in tlic '50s, and after quite a little
persuasion was induced to furnish reminiscences as follows :

In the spring of 1857 my father left Frankfort, Will county, Illinois, for
Iowa. He came on ahead of the most of us so as to get in some crop be-
fore the rest of us arrived. He came through with a horse team and heavy
wagon bringing some household goods ; and mother, and my three sisters,
(Sarah, Martha and Ruth ) came in the wagon with him. It was a long ride
but he arrived in time to get in corn by June sixth and it was a very good
crop that year. My brother Russell (R. W. B.) took charge of the balance
of the outlit consisting of four yoke of oxen, two heavy wagons, thirty head
of cows and heifers with a small flock of sheep, (about forty I think) and
we started alxiut the first of May overland. It was a long journey and took
us alx)ut two months. We camped out nights wherever night overtook us,
sleeping in our wagons among the household goods as best we could. We
did our own cooking. We had one cow that gave milk for us and we en-
joyed it. The other cows' calves took what they had and did well.

We ferried across some streams and twice floated across on a raft we
made. There were verj' few bridges in those days. We ferried the Rock
river in Illinois, then the Mississippi at Davenport, the Cedar at Tipton.
When we got to Tipton we heard the exciting news of five horse thieves

156

ARMORY BUILDING, AMES

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 157

being hung there a short time before by a vigilance committee. In those
early times the people formed such committees for protection and all had
horses to ride and hunted the thieves down and when they caught one his
trial did not cost the county as much as it does now. Our stock lived mostly
on grass the first few days of our long journey and the grass grew so fast
that soon we fed nothing and the stock got plenty to eat.

When we reached Iowa City Russell's wife was there, she having come
on the train that far with her one child, (now Mrs. J. W. Sowers) and
from there she lived in a wagon and camped with us the balance of the way.
We came tlirough Homestead, ]\larengo, Indian Town, Alarshalltown (that
had just had a war with Marietta over the county seat) then Marietta, both
small villages at that time, and on to Clemens' Grove. From Clemens'
Grove there was not a house until we got to Indian Creek in Story County
where a family lived named Pool. From Pool's place to Nevada there were
two houses, from Nevada to where father and the rest of the family were
was ten miles, and not a house after we got out of Nevada. Nevada was all
on the south side of town near where the park is now, excepting the Court
House. From Nevada it was ten miles to where we stopped.

Father had bought an improved farm from a man by the name of Isaac
Blade, paying eleven dollars per acre for 92 acres, and 12 of it was timber
that ran down to the river Skunk. I remember the prairie grass was much
higher than I had ever seen before. The angling road from Nevada was
made crooked by the sloughs we encountered. In coming along the route
from Iowa City we had many times been asked where we were going; and
when we told them to Story County, they informed us that Story was the
wettest county in the state and that we could not get a living in that county.
We did not have such experience, although we seldom did see persons riding
in anything but a lumber wagon. If a man had a spring seat on his wagon
it was considered a luxury.

That year I with my brothers put up nearly 100 tons of wild hay for our
stock and did it with a common scythe. We did not consider it very great
hardship to do this. Grass was fully three feet high and stood thick on the
ground and often we cut grass more than four feet high. We let it lie in the
swath one day and then piled it up into a "hay cock" as it was then known.
How many young men would now undertake to put up lOO tons of hay with
a common scythe? With the amount of work we had on hand the summer
soon passed and when the autumn came corn in the field had to be husked.
Father was an eastern Yankee and he insisted that every husk and silk
should be taken off from every ear and this was done, quite in contrast to the
way corn is husked now.

Such work was slow and we did not crib half as many bushels per day
as the ordinary man does now. Com then was not nearly as large as it is
now. A yield of 25 and 30 bushels was considered a good crop and it was

often discussed and decided that we were on the nonh line of the corn belt

Vol. I— 1 1 ■ ;

158 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

whicli seems a laughable circumstance now. We raised wheat, oats, corn,
potatoes, buckwheat, etc.. the next year and were happy.

The first school we had after coming to Iowa was held in my brother
Russell's house that he built with native lumber sawed from logs hauled to
the mill at Story City and his wMfe taught tlie school. This was in the
winter of 1857 and 185S. My brother Russell was a brother-in-law of
Xathan Slieffield who came to this state in 1854 (I think) and Russell came
out the iie.xt spring in a covered wagon with his wife, camping on the way
and staid one year, took sick and reliirned to I'Vankfort. Illinois, and after
recovering he induced father to come to Iowa antl father sent Russell back to
bargain for the Isaac T.lade farm that he bought, and then followed our ad-
vent into the state the next spring in 1857. We were acquainted with the
Sheffield family before they came to Iowa and their being out in this state
and Russell's desire to come west caused him to seek the locality where his
wife's sister was.

The next winter, that of 1858-9. we attended school at what was known
as the Griffith school house, (but often it was called the Poverty School
House) because it was built of logs not hewed or fiatlened on the sides and
it had what was called a puncheon floor, (split out of logs, hewed smooth
on one side, laid with the flat side up and notched down at the ends so as to
make it as level as possible). The seats were half of a log. split, with four
straight legs to make it a sort of bench that we sat on very comfortably
during the day. The winter passed with but little to recall only we had
spelling contests (or spelling schools) that gave amusement as well as good
drill. Our neighbors were H. L. Boyes and family. Joseph Brouhard and
family, both living about two miles away southeast of us. They went to
school at the "Poverty School House" with us which was more than one
mile north of where we lived up the Skunk river.

The families that patronized the schtxjl were Noah Griffith's, Joiin
Smith's, Jesse Smith's, I'.urham's and a few others making up a school of
about forty scholars. The next winter our teacher w^is R. C. McOmlier
from Plainfield Academy. Illinois, who afterward was the principal of the
Nevada schools. I think however he spelled his name McComber. H. H.
Rood later on spells it ".Macomber." No one seems sure about it. The
poor fellow after he had been in Iowa about two years went back home and
died of consumption. He was a brilliant fellow and intended to make the
law his profession had he lived. The Letsons. Lockridges. Kelloggs. Webbv.
Hawthorns, Prices and many other old settlers of Nevada can readily recall
his effort as jjrincipal of their schools. We used to go to Nevada to attend
spelling schools and at one time the Nevada school came up to the Sheffield
school house to our spelling school and there were three sleigh loads of the
young people. Such distances to attend such events were common in those
days. In those days people who lived ten to fifteen miles apart were calle<l
neighbors. I f a man was sick in the spring and did not get his plowing done
so as to put in his corn in time, we turned out and with teams from the

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 159

various neighbors plowed his ground, planted his corn and made no charge —
which is quite a contrast to the way people neighbor now. Often we had
what we called husking bees, took out 20 to 25 acres of corn in one day,
had a good time and made no charge.

Father and Russell got out logs and made a hewed log house. They had
a lot of lumber sawed at a saw mill then operated at Story City by George
Prime and Xoah Hardin. This mill did a general business of sawing for a
large scope of country about the little burg, the burg then consisting of about
a half dozen houses and one store stocked with about $500 worth of goods
I think. The only mill we had to grind corn was on Long Dick. It was run
by James Smith and was a great convenience to many people. Its capacity
Smith claimed was about five bushels per hour. We lived mostly on corn
bread. When we wanted flour to eat we had to go to a mill above where
Des Moines is on the Coon river, and often it took one week to go there, get
a grist and get back home and we had to sleep on the ground under the
wagon while waiting for our grist. Des Moines was a small village com-
paratively then.

In the spring or summer of 1857 father and I went down to White Oak
Grove in Polk County, below Cambridge, to buy some ear corn to feed. We
found some splendid corn at a Mr. Woods' at the east end of the grove. He
had about eight or ten rail pens eight feet or more high full of good sound
corn, and we got two wagon loads, paying him eight cents per bushel. I
kept the count as we measured it in a basket by throwing out one ear for
every basket emptied. Every once in a while Mr. Woods would say, "Hold
on, boy, don't count this, we will put it in for good measure." People do
not sell corn that way now days. When father paid him he gave him the
gold and silver. Mr. Woods took the money in his hand and said, "Doctor,
that is the first money I have seen for two years and I have not paid my
taxes for three years. I want you to come back and get two more loads and
then I may have money enough to pay my taxes."

The paper money of those days was what was known as "wild cat
money" and often if a man had a five dollar bill he could not buy his break-
fast with it. People used to take what was known as a bank detector and
it came to them by mail once a month. In that the banks which had failed
were shown. The only paper money at that time in the state that was con-
sidered good was issued by Frank Allen's "Nebraska State Bank," at Des
Moines and by the Iowa State Bank at Davenport. The only reliable money
in those days was gold and silver and there was not much of it to be had
either. People often ask me, "Why did you not buy lots of this land when
it was so cheap?" Poor money and scarcity of it answers that question.
We were in the fix the man was who had a farm of 160 acres ofifered him
for a pair of boots and the only reason he did not take the farm was that he
had no boots.

At that time what the farmer had to sell did not bring much. Dressed
hogs hauled to the end of the railroad at Iowa City brought two dollars per

160 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

loo pounds if the weight equaled 200 pounds; if 225. $2.25; and three year
old fat steers off the grass in the autumn brought from $18 to $19 per head,
and milch cows, from $10 to $12 per head. Butter brought four to five
cents per pound and eggs three cents per dozen, and no cash for either, but
trade only. Tea sold for $2 per pound, coffee, 2j4 lbs. for a dollar, and
other things in proportion. These are the reasons that people did not make
any more than a bare living in those days. The ordinary coarse plow boot
that can be bought now for about $3.50, sold in those days for $7.00 per
pair, and other things in proportion. What we had to sell was cheap, and
what we bought was high. Wheat then sold in trade for 25 cents per
bushel. There being no way of shipping it then, what sold was for seed
or bread only. We used to do our trading in Nevada and the men in busi-
ness at that time were Theodore Alderman, Otis Briggs. Hawthorn &
Talbott, and after a short time came Doctor Sinclair and others. To dodge
the sloughs made it a long trip to go to Nevada, and took the most of a
day. People seemed just as happy in those days as now and I am not
sure but they were more contented than now. It is not our necessities
that worry us, but our imaginary wants. We did not want as much then
as now.

TRAGEDY OK A PRAIRIE FIRE.

In the autumn of i860, a frightful circumstance occurred. John Swar-
engen, his wife and four children stopped at Nevada (he stated) and bought
ten pounds of cotton batting for use in their new home which they ex-
pected to reach in a short time, a few miles west of Webster City. They
tied this cotton batting on top of the cover of their wagon under which
was their household goods. Their way from Nevada to Webster City led
over the same road we used to travel to town. They being from the east,
knew nothing about what a prairie fire was, and they kept along unsuspect-
ingly, until they reached what was known then as the big rock in the north
part of Milford Township, within two miles of where D. Stultz afterward
made his home. Just as they were driving out of a low place or swail
where the grass was high, the prairie fire from the southwest struck them,
the team turned out on the right-hand side of the road and the whole
wagon was on fire instantly. Mr. Swarengcn stated that he immediately
jumped out of the wagon helping his wife out. As soon as she reached
the ground she said, "'Oh, John, my baby!" She at once climbed back
into the wagon, got her baby, and returning to the front of the wagon.
he tried to assist her to the ground again but the horses flounced and kicked
so, she fell with her liaby in between the horses, and in trying to get her
out of there, Mr. Swarengcn received a kick from one of the horses that
laid him out unconscious for a short time and when he came to, his cloth-
ing was nearly burncil off and his face, hands and arms were a crisp. He
went to the hack of the wagon, he stated, and tore off the feed box, think-

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 161

ing he could get the other three children out in that way ; but the fire soon
drove him back in despair, and he stood there and saw his whole family
perish in the fire, unable to do any more to save them. After he could
do no more and all were dead, he started to find some place where he
could tell some human being what had happened. In his wanderings he
finally landed at J. E. Hoover's home and farm, about three miles from
where his family had perished and told his story. Men of the neighbor-
hood were notified as soon as a horse could make the rounds, and soon
were at the scene of the terrible disaster. They found one horse dead,
and the other wandering about the prairie, burned so that he had to be
killed, and the dog about fifty feet away also burned all over and dead.

Quincy Boynton of Nevada was up in that region after some fat cattle
that father had sold to T. C. McCall and I was with him on horseback
rounding up the cattle to drive them to Nevada. The prairie fire scattered
our bunch of steers and cows so that we did not get them rounded up
until the next day. When the cattle scattered we also made ourselves safe
out of danger from the fire and rode toward Mr. Hoover's place, where
we learned of the frightful accident, so we rode down to the place to
see what it looked like. Before we got there the bodies, all that could be
found of the four children and the wife had been picked up and placed in
the feed box, which Mr. Swarengen had taken off the back part of his
wagon, and the box was hardly filled with the bones of those four chil-
dren and the wife. These bodies were buried in the Shefiield cemetery
where Mr. Swarengen was buried also, after having suffered about ten
days. The fire was so intense that it melted the dishes they had packed
m their wagon, and burned all the wood work out of the irons of the wagon.
The cotton batting being on top of the wagon no tloubt made the flames en-
velop the whole wagon instantly, and smothered the children back inside of
the wagon cover under the wagon bows. The family bedding, clothes and
keepsakes were all stored in the wagon and all helped to make the fire
intense. This terrible thing was the talk of the country for many months
after. Mr. Swarengen was conscious most of the time while he lived and
told the terrible experience many times to callers, saying they had just
been talking about how soon they would arrive at their destination. In
less than one week they would be in their prairie home between Webster
City and Fort Dodge. How true it is that in the midst of life we are in
death. This family had no doubt fond hopes of making a future home and
surrounding it with comforts and happiness with congenial neighbors, in
the then new state.

This illustrates in a measure the trials of the pioneer who, going
west blazes the road for other to follow, depriving himself and family of
the comforts of life in hope of making a home for them. The pioneer
who braved the blasts of the winter and the scalping knife of the Indian,
paid dearly for his land in vitality if not in dollars. It took nerve, de-
termination and staying qualities to hold out until more people joined the

162 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

little bands that were scattered over the vast prairies here and there, miles
apart. In 1857. the present Norwegian settlement was started by Paul
Thompson. James Duea. Erick Sheldahl, and a few others, and now that
vast ])rairie is all converted into farms, excepting the town of Roland. The
change seems more like a dream than a reality when I look back.

MORE NEIGHBORS.

In 1859 came more neighbors making homes, lliram Ferguson and
family came and settled near Mr. Boyes. Mathew Hates was soon there.
Samuel Bates and others too numerous to mention dropped down and
helped to build up a community that soon created demand for school houses
and other things to change the wild nature of the country. Numerous
families of Norwegians soon came and their industry soon made the wild
l)rairie blossom like a rose, and yield up gold that was used to build the
fine houses and barns which stand where the wolf used to burrow and
roam unmolested. What a blessing foreigners have been to the country!
They have made good loyal citizens, have subdued the earth and are bene-
factors because they have made two blades of grass and grain grow, where
there was before only one or none. They soon imbibed the spirit of the
rejjublic and helped to make it great by civilizing and bringing forth from
the earth something that benefits all nations as well as our own. The fruits
of their patient, persistent labor, they now enjoy as they could never have
hoped to. had it not been for the American rei)ublic. The rich soil they
made better and dug out of its storehouse the things that make life worth
living. It is the foreigners from all nations that make us great, for we
have the spirit of every clime and the talent making a cross that the high-
est individual can spring from, and possessing the vitality needed to battle
successfully with life. When the war of 1861 came, families who had
sons were distressed to sec their l)oys. husband, father or tmcles. shoulder
the musket and go to the frunl td do liatilc for the life of this rc])ublic.
It was then that our foreign born population siiowed their loyalty to the
country of their adoption. It cemented the whole as one family, with one
purpose, under the same flag, making this republic stronger than it ever
was before. I.ong may they live to enjoy it.

The county of .Story at the time we came to the state was strongly
democratic, and all of its officers were democrats 1 remember; and after
my brother Deville and L. Q. Hoggatt located in the county, politics waxed
hot between them. Judge Kellogg. James Frazicr, Webb. Lockridgc and
others. We used to have long night sessions at school houses over the
county, and joint discussions were had between tlie (larties above named,
causing much amusement as well as excitement that was interesting. The
school house campaigns in those days were popidar. .\t that time we had
county judges and Judge Evans of Bl<v>miiigt(>n was judge before Kellogg.

The families of Sowers. Arrasmitii. Hughes, l-^aglebarger, Mcl>ain.
^'oung. Rich, and many others lived down the river from us, ail considered

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 163

neighbors even though several miles away. Jonah Griffith, being quite a
biblical student, used to do much of the preaching for us in school houses,
until a minister who had nerve enough to brave deprivations and poor
pay of the itinerants of those times came out and took up the work in 1839,
after which there were quite regular services held at different places, and
after George Sowers moved to "Pleasant Grove," he was instrumental in
having a large school house built, and preaching was had there quite reg-
ularly near his home until a plain building was erected for the work, and
it was known after as the "Pleasant Grove church."

Even though we were in what eastern people called the wild west,
people did not forget the Ruler of all things ; and poor as they were, con-
tributed of their small means to help the ministers live, although they had
to work as well as pray, which was good I guess for their physical health
and satisfaction, although then as now the preacher was looked at as a
gentleman of leisure who did not need much to live on. The absolute
necessities of life were all that could be had in those times and we had
no daily papers, just weeklies, and they came around in about one week
after publication, if they came any distance. Editors then begged for money
as now, and always had a poor mouth until people got so used to it that
they paid little attention to such things. We hafl no telegraph, telephone,
express, railroads nor automobiles to get over the country. People paid
their subscriptions to the editor when they got ready, and considered that
he should be satisfied that he got it in time to pay his deferred bills that
depended upon these just claims for liquidation. Editors with great pa-
tience held out and did much advertising free that people want, but do not
want to pay for, then as now, and felt thankful like the rest that they
were alive.

The years of 1859 and i860 were marked for the rapid emigration to
this state and the prairie breaker could be seen in almost any direction as
we traveled across the great prairies. Then was the advent of the mower
and reaper that discharged the grain by main strength at the end of a
big square rake that was almost a man killer, but it was more rapid than
the hand cradle or hand scythe, and was considered a great advancement
and highly appreciated. Our corn plows were a single shovel plow, until
some man tried a double shovel walking plow that was considered much
better. In those days, boys rode a horse generally, while a man held the
plow until it was found out that a man could drive as well as plow at
the same time. Finally the cultivator with two beams and four shovels
came, and we could plow one row every time we crossed the field, which
was a marvel in those days. Now men plow two rows at a time making
four rows at one bout. We did not live at as rapid a pace as now.

In 1858 and 1859, many Norwegians came to the county, part of them
settling in the southwest part of the county and others in the north part
of the county. These families, many of them, could hardly speak the
English language; but they soon learned and it used to be said the first

164 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

word they learned was "scour," a word always used when a man went to
buy a plow, it being very important that a plow scoured, so that it would
turn the soil over and properly cover up the grass and weeds. In this, as
many other things, the foreigner was apt, and with his persistent industry
he soon improved his farm by building a house, bam, and other buildings
that were a great improvement over the pioneers' huts that could be seen
along the streams or among the earlier settlements of the prairie. The
soil of Story County has some gumbo in it, hence the necessity of having
a very hard plow that the muck would not stick to so as to do the farming
properly.

We found the Primes, Brackens, Hardings, Andersons and Wilkin-
sons there, and they lived up the river toward Story City, and some, a
little ways out on the prairie. At that time the prairie land was not con-
sidered quite as good as the land near the streams ; hence settlements were
mostly along the streams, and partly because the only fuel we had was
wood, it being l)efore the discovery of coal in the county or along the Des
Moines at Boone. People at that time used wood stoves only, not know-
ing much about soft coal as fuel ; but when it was discovered and came
into use, coal was a boon to the small boy who had had to chop the wood
mornings, evenings and Saturdays during school days. I noticed it was also
appreciated by the older ones in the community who had no boy to send
out after an armful of wood.

Soft coal and barb wire were a great thinp in the way of making it
possible to settle and improve the great prairies of Iowa at that time, and
it cost four or five times as much per pound then as now. The posts used
then were the native oak mostly, for no cedar was then to be had. Our
desires were simple and few, and our happiness, I believe, fraught with
more contentment than in this daj' of rapid transit and hurricane move-
ments for more and more. Many of the people went to town many miles
with an ox team, taking all day and often into the night to make the trip
for something the family needed. In those days the wife often milked the
cows, fed the pigs and had all the chores done, when the weary husband
arrived at home from the day's journey, and her deft hands had also
prepared a warm meal that the husband or brother ate with a relish which
can only be understood by those who have experienced the trials. No
"bullyon" or oyster stews were to be had then.

The wages of the pedagogue in those times would insult a teacher
now, and I think some may turn up their nose when I say teachers in
those times got the munificent sum of $14 to $20 per month as a rule in
the district school. I taught my first school in i860, south of where the
college farm is now, near where the Wiltse family lived, and boarded with
them and received $17 per month, paying two dollars per week for my
board. I felt that I was getting fair wages because at that time I had
worked for Amon Hipsher for 50c per day at farm work and four days
of the time I helped to deepen his well 28 feet down ; but 1 got my board

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 165

while there. Harvest wages varied from $1.50 to $2 per day, according
to how badly rushed a man was to secure his grain. Teaching was easier
than physical exertion in those days and it was appreciated by those who
worked at it sometimes. I hear people talk now days about hard times.
What would they consider the experiences of the early pioneer? I often
say the present generation know nothing about hard times and would know
less if they would curtail their desires to their necessities and save the dif-
ference in wages that exist between the two periods.

H. D. Ballard.
Primghar, Iowa.

MR. AND MRS. H. H. BOYES 1854-7 AND LATER.

Mr. and Mrs. Harry H. Boyes. lately of Howard Township, are very
notable among Story County pioneers in that they came to the county as
children or youths in the days of the first occupation of the land, grew up
and married here, and have spent the most of their lives in the township
where they were reared. Mr. Boyes was absent for four years in the
army, and the family lived in Nevada for six years, while he was county
recorder, and were in eastern Colorado for four years ; but with these ex-
ceptions they have been almost always in Howard Township. Mr. Boyes
was one of the boys who were off to school when the civil war broke
out. and he succeeded in getting into the First Iowa Infantry
which fought at Wilson's Creek, was mustered out after three months'
service and a large part of whose members afterward held commissions in
other regiments. Mr. Boyes was typical of the regiment, and he had his
long service and ultimately his commission in the Second Iowa Cavalry.
Mrs. Boyes was a member of one of the best known families of Story
County pioneers, being a daughter of Dr. Ballard, and a sister of H. D.
Ballard, whose reminiscences are also in this chapter. Since the following
letters were written, it may be added that Mr. and Mrs. Boyes have moved
again from their farm to Nevada, and that they now have the coveted
automobile. Their letters follow :

BY H. H. BOYES.

I have been requested to contribute some of my early experiences
and recollections, as one of the early settlers of Story County. I
find it rather difficult to go back, over so many years, and recall incidents
as they actually occurred. I will state, however, that I was bom quite
early in my career in Cattaraugus County, New York, and when four years
old, my parents moved to southern Michigan and took me along.

In the fall of 1853, ^^^ star of empire lit the way toward the land of prom-
ise, which was said to be beyond the Mississippi river, and had been named
Iowa. A loaded wagon drawn by two yoke of oxen, a few head of cows

166 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

trailing after, slowly and steadily moved onward straight toward the setting
sun, until late in the fall a resting place was found in a little vacant cabin,
surrounded by lieavy timber down on Clear creek in Jasper Count)', about
two miles south of Clyde. Here the winter was passed and in April, the
following spring, the journey was resumed, headed for the vacant govern-
ment lands along "Bear creek," in the northern part of Story County. .A
cabin and a few acres of land were rented and a beginning made for a
home. I.ogs were cut and hauled for a house; corn was planted, the prairie
sod torn up by the jilow, and the cause was on trial between limited means
and adverse circumstances on one hand and vast opportunity on the other.

Our experiences in those early days were the same as those of others
who came, when all was new and wild. Far from mill and market, little
to sell and much to buy, money scarce and often worthless ; but through it
all there was the spirit of enterprise and hopefulness. There were .some
hardships or rather privations. Game was plenty and there was never any
lack of pork and beef, but the bread supply of those first years was
sometimes a problem, I tliink it was in the winter of 1855 ^'^'i' ''i^ whole
country was covered with a thick sheet of ice so it was impossible for
oxen to travel, and at our home, the meal sack was about empty, and seven
of us youngsters to feed, and there had to be something doing. So father
sawed off a block about two feet long from a large oak log and witli his
carpenter tools hollowed out one end until it would hold about a peck
of corn ; then he took a hickory pole about six feet long, put iron rings on
one end and drove in tiic imn wedge, and the problem was solved for the
time being. It did nnt take long to pound out enough corn for a big jolinny-
cake in mother's dripping ])an.

.My brotlicr and I would shoulder our axes and with our cold luncli
of "hog and hominy" go to the timber, a mile away, and swing our axes
and heavy mauls, all day, chop a hole in the ice on the river to drink, and
think it no bardshi]). We were well and strong and lioarty. .\nd so those
early pioneers fared and toiled, realizing tiiey were making homes, and that
more prosi)erous times would follow.

Perhaps tiicy did not fully realize tliai tiioy were also building up a
commonwealth which would in the future be a potent factor and jiowcr
in the affairs of the nation and the world. Could those ])ioneers have lived
to the present day. they might have realized to a great extent the fultill-
ment of their anticipations. I'.ut nearly all have folded their ttiil worn,
calloused hands across their breasts in surcease of care.

Socially the early settlers probably enjoyed themselves as nuich or more
than do jieople at the jiresent day. .Ml were neighlwrs far and near, and
often met and passed the hours in i)leasant intercourse. .\'o doubt the
older members felt the responsibilities resting on them in their eflforts to
combat adverse circumstances ; but here they had come, and here were
their hopes for establi.shing a new home, and bravely and earnestly they
persevered.

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 167

To the younger members of society the conditions did not present so
serious an aspect. Usually a sermon somewhere on Sunday, or singing
school, and often in the summer time a mowing bee, when the younger
men took their scythes on their shoulders and went to help some neigh-
bor with his haying, and at the same time the young ladies were busy at a
quilting in the little cabin. Then when supper was over and the stars
came out, they all most diligently proceeded to polish down the puncheon
floor to the time of "Uncle" Jonathan Smith's fiddle.

As an automobile was passing the other day, I asked Mrs. B. if she
remembered the first buggy ride we ever took together. It was in the long
ago when we were young; long before gray hair silvered our temples, when
the world looked good and full of bright prospects. She readily recalled
the incident. I remember how I yoked up old Buck and Browny, hitched
them to the wagon, put a board across the box for a seat, and with my
head up and a long whip over my shoulder, I walked beside the oxen and
drove the outfit. The day was pleasant and all went "merry as a marriage
bell," but the bells did not ring until long years afterwards. And now,
with the shed full of buggies and the barn full of horses, she is insistent
on another joy ride ; but the carriage must have brass mountings and red
wheels, and the horn at the side. I only mention the foregoing incident to
show that in the methods of locomotion, with the exception of speed and
a whole lot of ostentatious style, the world has not made such wonderful
advancement as we are inclined to believe. Old Buck and Browny always
got there.

The pioneer brought with him two cherished institutions, the church
and the school. I believe the first sermons were given by Uncle Jonah
Griffith and then followed Rev. Miller, and later Rev. Cadwalader and
Rev. Swearingen. These services were held in the little cabins until the
building of the first school house, which was in the year 1856, and was
known as "Old Poverty." It was constructed of logs, plastered with clay,
with split shakes for the roof, and benches for seats, and desks arranged
along the sides.

The first school taught in the settlement was in a little house located
on the hill just south of Long Dick creek, during the winter of 1855.
This school was largely attended and was taught by Charley Haslett.

The first death in the settlement that I can chronicle was that of old
Mrs. Smith, wife of Uncle Jimmy Smith. On this occasion, there being no
lumber to make a coffin, my father and Mr. Brown and Mr. Griffith, split
out of a walnut tree, the necessary material, hewed and planed it down
and made a very respectable coffin.

In the wet season our roads became in places bottomless quagmires.
However, as the necessity rose, they were gradually improved. Instead
of calling a good roads convention and doing a lot of lamenting over con-
ditions with no result, we yoked up the oxen, went to the timber and hauled

168 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

out logs for culverts, and with brush and sod for tilling, we did a pretty
good job, with no thought of recompense further than our own convenience.

Tn those days there was a lot of volunteer work done on the roads, and
that without the tools and conveniences we now have ; and that work has
gone steadily on until now we have roads quite satisfactory to everyone
except the automobile driver. The first public road located was the old
state road running from Newton to Ft. Dodge. This road went wander-
ing around the ponds and over the hills and was marked by a furrow. The
first work on the road was done where it now crosses the big slough in
section 17, and so the years went by.

A great awkward youth I was in summer swinging the grain cradle
from morning till night over many broad acres at 50 cents a day; in winter
wielding the ax and maul and driving the wedge with strokes that made
the forest ring; standing by the home and homestead until of age. I hail
long cherished an ambition for a better education and in accordance with
desire, had slowly accumulated the magnificent amount of eighteen dollars.
Therefore, when father had sewed up a rip in my boot, and mother had
done some repairing to my coat, I left home and turned my face toward
Cornell college at Mount Vernon. There I struck a different atmosphere
and found all the various kinds of aristocracy — the true moral worth, and
the cheaply snobbish. I need not tell that these were strenuous days for
the raw countrj' boy. much more at home hunting coon up and down Sknink
river at midnight, than jjoring beside the student lamp, ."^ince these days 1
have passed through many trying ordeals, that tried the nerves, but I can
truthfully say, that never have I been so scared as when I was called up
to the rostrum in the old college chapel to deliver my first declamation.

The natural sequence came. The war came on. — and on the 14th of
.^pril. 1 861, I volunteered as a soldier, and my "di|)loma" was w^on on the
Brentwood Hills at Nashville, and was signed by Governor Kirkwootl.

H. H. BovEs.

MRS. H. 11. HOYES.

By request I will attempt to recall a few incidents of pioneering.

On the 9th day of May. the year 1S44. in .Mlcghany County. New York,
I first saw the light, and when I was four months old, my father. Dr. M.
R. IJallard. with liis family migrated westward as far as Ohio. lie re-
mained in that state one year ; then removed to Will County, Illinois, where
he settled on a farm to provide em])loyment for his sons, while he fol-
lowed his profession as a practicing physician. Again, when I was thir-
teen years old. the family took up its westward course, coming to .Story
County, Iowa, and arriving May 20, 1857, in what is now Howard Town-
ship. 1 have resided here continuously, with the exception of six years I
lived in .Xcvada and four years in the west.

While journeying on our way from Illinois, the ex|)ericnces were novel
at times, but the most vivid recollections were when we came to cross the

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 169

Mississippi river at Davenport, and drove the covered wagon on to the
ferr\' boat. At Iowa City, my sister, Mrs. Ferguson, stayed with a brother's
family, who Hved there, until the brother came along with the stock, then
she came with brother Russell and family, and arrived in Story County,
July 4, 1857. The weather, while we were jogging along from day to day
was ideal, and all went well, until, approaching Nevada, we mired down in
a slough and required assistance to get started again. Stopping at Nevada,
we were supplied with necessaries at Major Hawthorn's store, before leav-
ing for our destination. Between here and Nevada, there were no dwell-
ings until we reached the log cabin of H. L. Boyes, near where we now live.

My father settled on the Isaac Blade farm, by the timber near Skunk
river, which overflowed often in spring time. The building was a cabin,
with one room for eight in the family to occupy. I well remember how
homesick my mother was to be obliged to get along with so little room,
in a log cabin ; with "bunks," one above another, for the family to sleep in ;
cooking by a fireplace, etc., until difl^erent arrangements could be made.

The following winter of 1857-8, the first school, in our immediate
neighborhood was near my father's dwelling, and was taught by Lois E.
Ballard, brother Russell's first wife, in their own dwelling. We had a
good school, numbering fifteen or twenty pupils. The year 1856-7, the
first school was taught by Charley Haslett, on Long Dick creek. The sec-
ond school was the one above mentioned, and the third school was in "Old
Poverty" taught by Rollin C. McOmber, in the summer of 1858. The
winter of 1858-9 my brother, D. P. Ballard, taught the first school in the
"Sheffield" school house, and I taught the summer school and the follow-
ing winter of 1859 and i860. H. H. Rood of Mt. Vernon, taught the same
school. The winter of 1858-9, I attended the Nevada school taught by
Rollin C. McOmber. Madams F. D. Thompson, Lockridge and Waldron
were my classmates, as were also Gardner Price, J. D. Ferguson, H. H.
Rood and many others. F. D. Thompson taught the Nevada schools the
years of 1860-1 and 1861-2, and I had the pleasure of being one of his
pupils.

In pioneer days, wheat bread was a lu.xury, as we lived principally on
corn bread, but with plenty of vegetables, and all the wild fruit necessary,
sweetened with sorghum. Molasses was relished then. We all enjoyed good
health and life was full of pleasure to the younger members of society,
who could adapt themselves to conditions and circumstances. I often con-
trast the present prosperity with those days, and imagine it would be a
hardship for the younger generation now to be brought to such conditions.
This is an era of extravagance and wastefulness. I pity the children who
are not taught the value of money, or what it means to make a living. I
was taught that a penny saved was two earned. I am not a pessimist, but
I predict this extravagance cannot always continue, and that those who
do not garner and live within their income, may realize somewhat the
strenuous conditions of the pioneer.

S. E. BOYES.

CHAPTER XVTI.
TALES OF EARLY DAYS.

MR. AND MRS. J. V. liROWN — L.\r.\YKTTl-: IN 1854.

I came to Iowa the first time in 11^54. In June, 1855, a younger brother
and I walked from Cedar County. Iowa, to tlic county of Story, a distance
of about 150 miles. The country was new and neiglibors lived scattered
in the ]iioneer houses of small dimensions l)ut cheerful and happy. At that
time but few families lived on Story's fertile jjrairies with a carpet of
heavy j^rairie grass, in spots mingled with acres of white antl blue and i)ink
flowers which gracefully noddeil when the winds blew. With the exception
of the many ponds at that time it was a land of jjromise to a wide-awake
newcomer, which ponds tiling is so nicely overcoming at the present day,
though then the tiling was not dreamed of. In June, 1855, I entered the
southeast quarter of section 26, Lafayette Townshij), Story County, Iowa.
Went back to Pennsylvania and got married .\'ew \'ear"s day, 1856. On
March 5, 1856, we started for our new home in Lafayette Township,
where we have lived ever since and raised our children, four boy.s and
one girl, trained to honesty and industry. Our traveling outfit was a team
of horses and muslin covered wagon, with |)lenly of warm wrajjs. W'e ar-
rived on (iiir ]ilot of land \prii i_^th. withmU a shack for shelter.

.About the same lime Mr. House and family came to Story City, then
called I'airview, and located on the west bank of Skunk river with a port-
able sawmill. The mill was very heavy to move over nuidily sloughs as
traction engines were then not known ; but it soon furnished us with native
lumber sufticient to build a I4.\i6 feet house — a lu.xury not enjoyed In-
previous newcomers, wlio had to build houses out of logs. Dan and Henry
McCarthy of .\mes, were engineers and head sawyers 54 years ago last
spring. Dick Jones had a small store in Fairview, size about 12x14 feet.
I fir.st met Peter Dekop with others June 13. 1855, selecting their future
home where Peter still lives. That same year Peter and his father saw
24 deer in where now is our calf and hog lot. In 1856, I iKiught a span
of horses in the then siuall and mostly log-house town of Des Moines.
Later during a heavy thunder storm one night, the horses left their un-
fenced prairie pasture for shelter ea.st of us in the Skunk river timber.

170

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 171

It blew from the northwest and the next day they were seen grazing on
the east side of the river. As I had no other horse then to ride, the fol-
lowing day I walked many miles through the tall prairie grass, but found
no track of them. The second day, W. R. Doolittle very kindly loaned
me a good horse and saddle with which I started to hunt in earnest. I
iiad faithfully looked every place over except the right place the day be-
fore on foot. I soon found where they pastured the day before on a fresh
plat of previously burnt pasture, but not a shadow of my fugitives that
day. The first word I got, some one saw them southeast of Nevada head-
ing in the direction of Keokuk. The country was unfenced and horses
in a strange land steer direct for their native home. I concluded the
owner brought them to Iowa by the way of Keokuk and so I searched
diligently in that direction. Occasionally I met some one who had seen
them grazing on some fresh burnt prairie grass pasture, I could not find
them by getting in their advance. It was like hunting the needle in the
hay mow. One night I took lodging with a German who could not talk
English very well, so we sat up later than usual conversing in German.
Before retiring he stepped out and by moonlight saw a white and a black
horse passing. That was just what I was after. The one we got readily
but the other was hard to catch at best and we failed to get him. How-
ever, he knew me by daylight and voluntarily came to me next morning.
I captured my team in Keokuk County, southeast of Sigourney, lost two
weeks' time and had left my wife alone at home to keep house and think
it over in sadness, which was followed by joy and gladness.

For protection we built our house and stable on the sunny slope of
the hillside, but it proved to be a mistake for us. The winter of "56 and
'57 was severe with sleet and lots of snow. The prairie fires burnt the
tall prairie grass after the frost in the fall, which left the snow to drift with
the caprice of the wind in every direction. The snow drifts nearly covered
both house and barn and also our well on the side hill. With slippery ice
our unshod team could not be used. We had three cows with calves, and
for two weeks we fed hay to our stock through a hole I made in the hay
roof. We melted snow in our copper wash boiler on the cook stove to
water team, calves and cows. God's sunshine in due time melted the icy
fetters of snow and later came the green grass and the song of the birds,
again singing the happy song of life. I need scarcely say the summer and
fall of 1857 we moved our abode from the side to the top of the hill where
we have lived ever since in sunshine and in storm.

In the fall of 1856 I shot a wolf while in the act of running down one
of our few hens like a dog. A few days later I shot a prairie wolf in his
sleep sunning himself in a dry spot in the bed of Kegley branch. They
would visit our melon patch and select the choicest to eat. Mr. Doolittle
killed two wolves in one night by putting poison on the carcass of an ox
which had died for him. Prairie chickens, wild ducks, geese, brants and
sand-hill cranes were very numerous here before the invention of breech

uiicu \\L- lULdicu iicic. ribn ui goou size were aiso aDundaiu. 1 lie only
railroad then was a branch from Muscatine to Wilton Junction. Iowa City
was the capital of Iowa. Merchandise was hauled by wagon back and
forth from the Mississippi — an cx])ensive method. The nearest grist mill
was in Des Moines. Buildings were mostly made of logs. Eggs were 3
cents per dozen in Nevada at one time. The price of prairie land was $1.25
per acre. Timber $12 per acre. God ruled then as now in this fair land,
in educational progress, in material prosperity and spiritual blessings.

J. F. Brown.

Mrs. R. J. I!rown.

COL. HF.NRV II. ROOD. — 1856-61.

One of the best and most favorably known men that have gone out
from Story County is Col. Henry H. Rood, now of Mt. \'ernon. He came
to Nevada in ICS56, and in 1861 was at school at Mt. \'ernon. He went
from there to the war but never came back to Nevada, save as an always
welcome visitor. He taught in Howard Township where the early settle-
ment was, and was a most admirable type of the ambitious and capable
young man. with his own fortune to make. He enlisted in the First Iowa
Infantry as a private and came out of the war as a brevet lieutenant-colonel.
Since the war he has been active in business affairs, making his home al-
ways at Mt. \ernon. Of his life in Story County he has upon urgent
request written as follows:

I left my home in Washington County, New XotU. .^pril 10, 1856, com-
ing to Chicago with a neighbor's son, who was ship])ing a well bred and
valuable horse to Jo Daviess County, Illinois. At Albany he united with
others who were shipping horses west ; this necessitated coming by freight
train all the way. At Chicago we separated. I staid all night at the
Garden City House, which stood on Madison and Market streets, where
Marshall Field & Company erected their wholesale houses after the Chi-
cago fire in 1871. Thence I came to Rock Island on the Rock Island road,
ferried the Mississippi across to Davenport and then took the railroad,
now Rock Island, which had been comjilcted to Iowa City, January i, 1856.

At Iowa City took the Frink and Walker stage to Newton. A day or
two later my brother Adolphus Rood came down from Nevada to meet
me. Mr. Ilelphrey, the proprietor of a hotel, later known to the boys as
the "Old Terrific." had driven down with my brother to meet me and young
Dr. Adamson, who was returning from the medical college at Keokuk,
where he had just graduated.

We passed over the then almost un.settled country to Edenville. now
Rhodes, where we took dinner at Esquire Rhoads' house ; between Clear
creek and the east fork of Indian creek, we did not pass a single occupied
cabin, and at dark drew up at the llclphrcy 1 louse, where I spent my first

I

Oiii.

MctlnMlist (liMicli. Ames

Cliiistian Church, Ames

C'alhiilic Cliiinli. Ames

Con"ri'"iili<iiiiil ( 'hiiiili. Anil's

Jiiiptist (lunch. Amo

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 173

night in Nevada. The date I do not remember, but it was on or near
April 22, 1856. The next day I went to board with a Mr. Warren who
lived in the house afterward owned by the father of Nathan G. Price.

The first court house of Story County was being erected, and my
brother had the contract to lath and plaster it, but before it was ready for
that, I helped for a short time to lay shingles on the roof. When the work
was far enough along I helped lath it and then took from my brother my
first lessons as a plasterer. I was only fifteen, but tall and slender, and
for my age was stronger than most boys. By the time the season closed,
I had progressed so I could do plain work.

The last work of that season, (which I did alone) was plastering a
lean-to kitchen for lawyer J. L. Dana. I finished at near midnight Decem-
ber 5, or 6, and the next morning the most terrible blizzard I ever witnessed
was raging.

The summers were spent working at my trade; the winter of 1856-7
and 1857-8 the necessity of doing as much work as the season would per-
mit, prevented me from going to school, but I acknowledge with deep grati-
tude the kindness of Col. John Scott, Judge Geo. A. Kellogg, Lawyer J. L.
Dana and R. H. Mitchell, the latter afterward surveyor of the county, all
of whom loaned me books to read. I'd put in some of my leisure time also
in studying the school books I brought with me, and the winter of 1858-9, I
attended the full term of the public school, taught by that prince of teachers,
Rollin C. Macomber.

That young man who had come to Iowa from the green hills of Ver-
mont was the most helpful, inspiring and successful teacher I have ever
known. In my later years I have seen and known many teachers, but not
one who could arouse in young men and women such desire for educa-
tion, or could so successfully impart the knowledge he had himself ac-
quired. His early death deprived Iowa of an intellect, the clearest and
strongest I have ever come in contact with. I left the school room of
this gifted young man, on the "last day," with a firm resolve to get a better
education. This purpose had been in my mind for some time, but asso-
ciation with this high purposed youth confirmed it.

That summer business was very good but I found time to study quite
a good deal, and in October, the superintendent of schools, held examina-
tion, I think for the first time in the county, for certificates to teach. In
the afternoon of this day I took ofif my working suit and, dressed in my Sun-
day clothes, presented myself for examination. I was among the last, or
possibly the very last. When it was over he said, "in some of the technical
things you need more study. Your reading, spelling, arithmetic and gram-
mar are sufficient ; in your general information you are above the average,"
and he handed me a certificate, whether first or second grade I do not
remember.

A little later, after an unsuccessful effort, because the teacher had
already been employed, "over on Indian creek," I rode with Sheriff George

174 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

Child. 11]) to llic district in wliicli ilie father of Harry Hoves. Henry. Sarah,
Martha and Ruth Ballard, children of Dr. Ballard then lived. George
Smith was the subdirector. .-\fter a talk with him he took me to Dr. P.al-
lard's, and the good old doctor approving, I was hired at $22 per nioiitli
and was to board myself. Mrs. Ballard out of sympathy for an orplian
boy, fighting for his first chance took me to board. The rate was the usual
one for that time. $2 a week and my washing and mending. This left me
$14 per month. .At the school in .\evada the winter l)efore I had become
acquainted with all the children of Dr. Ballard named above, and Harry
Boyes, and they all became pupils in my first school, .so I had a few whom
I knew to begin with. Jason D. Fergxison taught the school in the district
next north of where 1 taught. He too had been a Macomber student and
we were clo.se friends. Never in my life, so far as the work in which 1
was engaged was concerned, have I had so much real enjo\nicnt as that
winter. We had in the three near districts, the one nortli. 1. 1). Fergu-
son's, the one west, Keigley's, spelling schools, and declamations, and a
general mingling. There were dances al.so. a visit to a sugar camji — I
think Arra.smith's ; tlic Mus(|uakie Indians camjied near us in the timber for
a time, and there were shooting at a mark and foot races. Then came
the "last day" with its declamations and essays, and a general showing off.
and the separation from the bright, eager, aspiring children, and with a
heavy heart I went to Nevad.-i with my lirotiier. who jiad come up to be
present and take me back.

For a long time thereafter. I could call tiie roll of tiiat school. Tiic in-
evitable sejiarations of life carried me away, and except two elsewhere
noted, I have seen only a few of those boys and girls, and those few at
long intervals, but tile menKiry of those days come into my mind as often,
and linger as dearly, as the happiest of all the days since.

Harry Boyes and Jason D. I->rguson followed .Addison Davis and my-
self to Mount N'ernon. We all early enlisted in the Civil war. I-'erguson
fell at Shiloh. lieing in difl^erent regiments, we saw little of each other,
as we have since, but the memory of these friends of my youth is as clear,
as warm, as abiding as it was then.

.Another friend made in the .Macomber days was George W. Crossley,
now Colonel Crosslev. Similarity of tastes, of hopes and aspirations drew
us together. When I went away to school I did not see liim again, until
the close of the first day's battle at Shiloh. when he came to the right of
the regiment in which I was. His was the first face out of our own com-
mand which 1 knew and which I had seen that day. When be came up.
extended his hand with its ever warm grasp and spoke my name, it seemed
as if the sight of no friend, alive and unharmed, after such a day, could
have given greater |)leasure. I knew his wife, too. in those early days, and
among the cherished names of my youth and later years, none are more
dear than Col. and Mrs. Crossley.

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 175

The winter of 1856-7, I lived, as I did a good deal of the time during
my stay in Nevada, at the Nevada House, with landlord John McLain.
That winter there were among others at the hotel, John Scott and his
brother "Bar." Isaac Walker, James C. Lovell, names long identified with
the town and vicinity. I am deeply indebted to Col. Scott for many things
of great value to a young boy. He was a man of moods and some eccentric-
ities, but sound to the core on many lines, and a friend of boys if they
would give him a chance. I lived to tell him in his later years how much
his words and example had done for me.

I worked at my trade on the first court house, on the first school house,
and I think on the first church built in Nevada, and on many residences. In
the spring of 1859, before work began, I helped Mr. Crossley plant corn
on his farm just across the Skunk river. A part of the farm is now a
part of the town of Ames. We "backed it," and planted corn with an
old hand dropper, and a part of it without the dropper. On July 4 of that
year, with a great crowd, I went to help celebrate the location of the agricul-
tural college at what is now Ames, and in the same year attended the first
county fair at Nevada. There were a number of families who were al-
ways nice to me, and I have ever held them in kindliest memory. Uncle
Davy Child and George Child, Major Hawthorn, R. D. Coldren, Mr. and
Mrs. Alitchell, John Stephens, the father of Mrs. Sam Statler and Mrs.
Smith and their brother Thomas. The Letsons, the home of the parents
of Nathan G. Price and Abby Price, Thompson, and others. The passing
years have not dimmed the memory of those early friends.

H. H. Rood.

HON. W. v. .\LLEN. NEV.\DA IN THE "50S.

Hon. W. V. Allen, from 1893 to 1901, a senator from Nebraska at the
national capitol, was in his boyhood a resident of Nevada, and with his
people lived in a little house that still stands on Pine street, being the sec-
ond on the west side, south from Fourth avenue south. He left Nevada be-
fore the war, but was in the war closely associated with many of the
Story County boys, as a member of the Thirty-second Iowa Infantry, al-
though his company was not K, to which the Story County contingent other-
wise belonged. In later years he has been an occasional visitor here with
his cousin, M. C. Allen; and it was during one of these visits here that he
made a tour of the town, looking up landmarks of the early day and haunts
familiar to his boyhood. The vicinity of the city park stirred some recollec-
tions which indicated that the epitome of the Nebraska statesman was a
decidedly live boy with traits remarkably like those of boys today. Point-
ing to the site of the John M. Wells residence, the visitor remarked, "Over
there is where Uncle Will (W. G. Allen, whom you remember) found me
with some other boys throwing stones at the windows of an empty house
and trounced me all of the way home. Uncle Will, inasmuch as my own

176 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

father was not living, exercised considerable guardianship over nic aiiil
tried to make me a very proper youngster."

Turning westward the retro.spect was of the old ford — the Sycamore
street crossing of the West Indian which is still used, but which long since
lost its distinction as the only feasible crossing place, during most of the
year, for a considerable distance north and south. Mr. Allen said, "My
most vivid recollection of the Old Ford is that its immediate vicinity was
the location of a dog fight. I had a dog — you, M. C, gave him to me —
that was the pride of my heart. He had licked every other dog in town,
and you know how glorious such a possession is to a boy. One day some
movers camped down here by the ford who had a dog which they boasted
could lick any other dog on the prairie. Directly there was a battle and
my dog came off victor. O, but that was a glorious day !"

There was hint of a gentling force destined to rival even the paternal-
ism of revered "Uncle Will" in suljduing barbaric tendencies, as Mr. .Mien
remarked, "Over on the hill beyond the creek was the Sam Briggs place,
where I planted potatoes while Mollie Armstrong dropped them for me."

Mr. Allen recalled one establishment of the early day that has been
seldom mentioned of late years. It was the tannery located on Sycamore
street where it descends the hill toward the ford. There Mr. |. R. Myers
had some vats and converted green hides into leather for local use.

FORGETTING $3,500. A STORY OF J. D. HUNTER.

Hon. J. D. Hunter, for many years, and until liis death, editor of the
Freeman-Tribune at Webster City, never had his home in Storj- County ;
but he once — and perhaps at other times — told of something that happened
to him and another man in Nevada in the summer of i860. As his story
ran, Mr. Hunter and .Mr. Erastus Paradee, both then of Flilora. were en
route overland "empowered tf) cast a full vote of Hardin County at the
republican state ccinvention to Ix; held in Des Moines. Trips to the capital
through ti)c intervening bogs and bridgeless streams were so perilous and
rare that the delegates had been made messengers to carry $3,500, the
amount of Hardin County's state tax, and deliver the same to the state
treasurer. The first day's journey ended at Nevada, and the night was
spent at the leading hotel, probably the 'National' Hotel or 'Nevada House.'
of which George H. Crossley was then proprietor. The building was located
on the Mrs. Lowrey lot, corner of Locust street and Third avenue south,
and now forms part of the 'Hutchins House.' At bed-time the money, con-
sisting of state bank bills in a sealed envelope, was transferred from an
inside coat pocket to snug quarters under the sheet between the two travel-
ers. The ambassadors hurried off early in the morning, hoping to reach
the capital that day. When Wve or six miles out toward Cambridge they
were seized with consternation by discovering that their money had been
left in the bed. Mr. llnntcr says:

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 177

" 'Mr. Paradee, who was driving at once turned the horses around and
headed for Nevada at a most lively gait, and during the whole of the ride
back there was not a word spoken by either of the men. Driving up to
the porch of the hotel, the horses dripping with sweat, the men were met
by the landlady, who, holding up the package of money, exclaimed, 'It's
safe.' It is needless to say that the relief that came to the occupants of
the buggy was as welcome as it was overwhelming, and that they never
had in all their lives greater reason for thanking their lucky stars than on
this occasion. The landlady's chambermaid had found the money and
brought it to her in less than an hour after our departure from the hotel.
She was at once sought out and handsomely rewarded for her honesty, and
the delegates once more turned their faces toward Des Moines. By this
time the travelers had recovered their speech and thoroughly canvassed
the situation in all its bearings, and were horrified when contemplating the
narrow escape they had made from bankruptcy, and the possible loss of
whatever character and reputation they may have possessed.' "

THE STATE ROADS AN EXPLANATION BY HON. CHAS. ALDRICH. "■

In the pioneer stories there is frequent mention of the "state roads"
that run from one point to another, according to convenience and without
regard to the government survey. The origin of these roads and the reason
why there were not more of them was given a few years ago by Hon.
Charles Aldrich in the Annals of Iowa, to which explanation it may be
added that the supply of new state roads being cut off and the settlement of
the country having led to the abandonment of the early ones in favor of
newer highways on the section lines. Mr. Aldrich said:

Some curious results would be reached by studying the manner in
which public roads were projected and located by acts of the legislature,
territorial and state, up to the adoption of our present constitution. These
inchoate highways would seem legitimately to have had but one purpose —
that of facilitating travel and intercourse between different portions of the
territory or state. But in time their establishment became an abuse which
the makers of our constitution did well to suppress. Candidates for the
legislature were ready and even eager to promise to secure the establish-
ment of these roads, in order to obtain support in securing nominations,
as well as votes at the election. The carrying out of pledges was generally
easy, for as a rule these projects met with very little opposition in the
legislature. Then, these laws provided not a little patronage in the ap-
pointment of commissioners to locate the roads, who were also generally
authorized to appoint one or more practical engineers and surveyors. A
team, a tent, another camp equipage, one or more common laborers, and
subsistence for the party, were also required. The location of some roads
required several weeks, and as the work was for the most part undertaken
as early in the season as animals could subsist on prairie grass, they were

178 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

real junketing, "picnicing" excursions. Xothing could be pleasanter than
going out to perform such official duties. The pay was sufficient in those
"days of small things" to make the position of commissioner a very wel-
come appointment. The appointments seldom went a-begging. The prairies
were most beautiful with their carpets of green grass, interspersed with
myriads of flowers, and fairly alive with feathered game. Deer and elk
were occasionally killed, and as soon as the spring floods subsided fish were
plenty and of the choicest quality. Enterprising frontiersmen who had gone
out beyond the settlements to make themselves homes always gave them
the heartiest welcome. Such settlers were hospitable to all comers, but
especiall}' so to these parties whose work promised to open up roads and
place them in communication with populous places.

But it not only became apparent that this work had too often degen-
erated into mere schemes of politicians, either to acquire influence and
votes, or to pay off debts already incurred, but that railroads then rapidly
extending westward, would largely obviate the necessity for even genuine
state roads. So the convention of 1857. in .\rticle III, Section 30, of the
])resent constitution, prohibited the general assembly from "laying out.
Oldening, and working roads or highways." The summer of that year saw
the last parties engaged in laying out state roads. The legislature of 1856,
however. Jiad been so industrious in the establishment of state roads, that
it takes almost tJuec i)ages in the index merely to name the various laws
or sections in which they were decreed. The commissioners in the sum-
mer of that year were very active and "made hay wliile tiie sun shone."
well knowing that the laws would jirovide for no more such roads. And
so this usage — so [)leasant to its beneficiaries — came to an end.

CHAPTER XVIII.
STORY COUNTY IN THE WAR.

The opening of the Civil war was as much a surprise to the people of
Story County as it was to the people of the North generally. Contem-
porary records of the actual reception of the news of the firing upon Ft.
Sumter, are not at hand; hut recollections are that the reception of the
news was considerably delayed, but that when it did come, there was in-
stant response of loyal enthusiasm. The local reliance for news at that
time was in a semi-weekly hack line from Marshalltown to the Missouri
river, which line touched Nevada, College Farm and New Philadelphia;
but, when the news did come, it traveled rapidly, and in a very short time
a company was organized, under Lincoln's call for three months' volunteers.
A committee was sent, consisting of then State Senator John Scott, At-
torney Paul A. Queal and George Child, to Des Moines, to tender the
services of the company, but the state's quota, under the first call was
already full and running over ; and it was not until the subsequent call
was made for 300,000 men for three years or for the war, tliat Story
County succeeded in being represented at the front, save for four excep-
tions resulting from the fact that that number of young men of patriotic
disposition were temporarily in the eastern part of the state and were
then able to secure admission to the First Iowa Regiment.

.\ record, compiled in 1876 by Senator J, A, Fitchpatrick for Colonel
John Scott, to be used by the latter in his Centennial Oration at Nevada,
in that year, shows that Story County was represented in the following
Iowa Regiments: First, Second, Third, Tenth, Eleventh, Twelfth. Thir-
teenth, Fourteenth. Mfteenth. Sixteenth, Eighteenth, Twentieth, Twenty-
third, Thirty-second, Thirty-seventh, Fortieth, Forty-fourth, Forty-seventh
and Forty-eighth Infantry and in the Second and Fourth .\rtillery, and
also in the Second, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth and Ninth Cavalry. The county
was hardly large enough to furnish full complements of men for very many
intlependent commands ; and the consequence was that squads were en-
listed here from time to time and l)ecame attached to companies that were
being organized elsewhere. Hence in many cases it was difficult for the
county even to gain credit for the men it had actually furnished. The dis-
tribution of the Story County contingent through so many commands, ren-

179

180 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

ders it impossible now to follow the career of all of them even generally,
but to those commands in which any considerable number of them served,
it will be endeavored to give at least some detailed attention; while as to
four commands, there should and will be given about all the attention that
space ])crniits and material at hand or to be had, makes possible. These
four commands were Company E of the 3d Infantry, Company B of the
Second Cavalry, Company A of the 23d Infantry, and Company K of the
32d Infantry.

Of these four companies, E of the 3d and K of the 32d. were organized
in Nevada — the complement of Company E being in considerable part made
up from men enlisted in Boone County, and K having some who had come
from Marshall County. B of the 2d Cavalry was organized at Marshall-
town, but a large part of its members had been enlisted in Story County
by Attorney Paul A. Queal, who became First Lieutenant of the company,
was afterwards its captain, and died in its command. A of the 23d was
organized at Des Moines, but more than half of its members were enlisted
in Story County by D. P. Ballard and S. P. O'Brien, the former of whom
was elected first lieutenant and became captain, and the latter of whom
was afterwards second lieutenant. These four companies, all of them saw
splendid service. E of the 3d was at Shiloh and Corinth, went through the
Vicksburg campaign with Grant, met fearful losses afterwards in the as-
sault on Jackson, was later divided, those who had not veteranized remain-
ing in Tennessee, and the others going with Sherman to Atlanta. Toward
the end of the Atlanta campaign, the 3d Infantry had been so reduced that
it was consolidated with the 2d, and in this condition the two were nearly
wiped out again when the rebels, for the monicnt, turned Sherman's flank
at Atlanta. Company B, as being a Cavalry Regiment, was in more small
fights, but not so many big ones. Its hottest engagement was at Farming-
ton in the Corinth campaign, where it charged and captured a rebel bat-
tery, and it shared fully in the glories of Xashville. where Tliomas virtually
destroyed the army of Hood. These two companies, E and B, were both
enlisted in the first year of the war. The 23d and 32d regiments on the
contrary, were raised and organized in i8f)2, the 23d in September and
the 32d in October. Company A saw its hardest service in the X'icksburg
campaign. It missed getting really into the fight at Champion Hill, but
at Black River Bridge it bore the brunt of the fight, and, charging in
column, cut off a large number of rebels from the bridge over which they
were endeavoring to retreat. The losses of the regiment in this engage-
ment were very heavy, but its glory was correspondingly great. Later, the
regiment was sent, by boat, to the coast of Texas, where it helped to hold
the country. The 32d was Col. Scott's regiment, and for the first year
and a half of its service it had the misfortune to be divided, holding posts
in southeastern Missouri or across the river in Kentucky. It was united
in 1864. and went on the Red river campaign. Its great engagement was
at Pleasant Hill, where it failed to get orders to fall back when the rest

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 181

of the army did so, and held its ground until the fight had passed beyond
it. The remnants of the regiment ultimately reached the Union lines in
safety, although the losses had been nearly half of the men engaged. Be-
fore this experience, the regiment had served in Mississippi, and was with
the 2d Cavalry at Tupello. Its last campaign was that in lower Alabama,
where it participated in the sieges of Spanish Fort and Fort Blakely.

These four Story County commands had very varied experience, but
this experience had the common quality that in due season, they all got
into hot places and acquitted themselves with very notable gallantry. Yet
through all their trials, they had some survivors who remain yet in the
county of their enlistment and from whom the editor has received in-
valuable assistance in the compilation of this history. Harry Boyes has
written of Company B of the 2d Cavalry. T. J. Miller has written of
Company A of the 23d and S. P. O'Brien has added to the story. In
respect to Company K and the 32d, we have had only the present benefit
of an interview with Silas See, who was in the company from its enlist-
ment to its muster out; but Col. Scott left a History of the Regiment, from
which we shall draw as seems practicable. Also a letter of Captain Child
that had slept for many years, has come to hand and gives most enlighten-
ing information concerning the experience of the command among the
bushwhackers and slave drivers in western Tennessee.

But the most abundant material pertains to Company E of the 3d. This
was the first company ; its service was the most protracted ; it happened
to be engaged in conflicts which have most attracted the attention of the
historian and commentator, and somehow, it is the one of the Story County
companies concerning which it has always been easiest to get information.
Col. Scott was its first captain and the lieutenant colonel of the regiment.
J. A. Fitchpatrick served with it from its enlistment until he was captured
at Atlanta. Guilf Mullen got away at Atlanta and continued with the com-
mand until the grand review. Captain Robert J. Campbell, who is famed
among the old timers here as having forced George Helphrey, at the point
of a gun, to take ofif, throw away and stamp on the butternut he was
wearing, was with it also from the beginning to Atlanta; and again, after
his escape from rebel prison, he was with it at the close, as captain of one
of the three consolidated companies of the 2d and 3d Iowa. Col. Crossley
was orderly sergeant when the company went out, and came back with a
field commission. All of these men, from time to time, have had stories
to tell of the 3d Iowa Infantry, stories which reveal more of the soldier
life of the Story County Boys in Blue than is to be learned from any other
source. From this source, we purpose to quote at very considerable extent,
not with any suggestion that the Third Infantry was, or could have been,
any more gallant than any of the other commands in which soldiers from
this county served with varying opportunity for distinction, but because
from this source we have the most material, and because this material
pertains almost as much to the service as a whole as to the particular com-

182 HISTORY OV STORY COUNTY

iiiaiul ; and because from it, we can see perhaps as well as is possible, at a
distance of nearly or quite fifty years, what it meant to have been a Story
County soldier in the beginning and to have continued as such until gun-
shots, disease, the disabilities arising in the service, the expiration of terms
of enlistment, the terrible misfortunes of becoming prisoners of war, or
the final glories of j^eace achieved put an end to the service in the field.

Another verv material circumstance had aided in the personal under-
standing by the author of the story of Company K and the 3d Infantry.
Two reginuiital reunions of the 3d Iowa have, at different times, long
years apart, been held in Nevada. The first was in 1885, only 20 years
after the war, and the Ixiys. who were yet only fairly along in middle life.
attended in large numbers. The observer of their proceedings and the
listener at their campfires was very fortunate. Colonel Scott, their old
lieutenant colonel, was then the most jtrominent citizen here, and managed
somehow to have his comrades feast in turn at his table. Twenty-one years
later, in 190(^1. they came again. Tliere were not nearly so many of them,
and those that did come appeared very different from those that bad ap-
peared on the occasion of their earlier visit ; but the second visit recalled
vividlv the memories of the first, and the two together are to be recorded
as the only regimental reimions ever held in Story County. Once, as a
compliment to Colonel Scott, it was voted to hold here a reunion of the
32d, but before the biennial period rolled around, the old regimental com-
mander had moved to Des Moines, and the jirogram for the meeting was
therefore changed ; so by reason of its earlier enlistment, slightly longer
service and occasional returns, there is no injustice to other commands in
according to Comjiany E of the 3d the position of a special attention among
commands, all of which reflected so much of honor and credit upon the
county of their enlistment.

STOUV COl-NTV KNI.ISTMKNTS IN TIIK W.\R.

For convenience of reference it seems best to grouj) together liere the
enlistments from Story County in all the commands, rather than to scatter
the names amid the later summaries of regimental service. The list of
enlistments, however, is not complete nor, so far as we know, is there to
be had any complete list of such enlistments. In compiling the following,
however, we have had the best helj) that is here and now to be had. .And
though the list is not complete we have assurance that it is more nearly
so than any other that has yet been compiled. Similarly, as to the further
lists of deaths in the war of Story County soldiers, it is feared that there
will be fcuind omissions here also. But the list should be published and
recorded for what there is of it in order that recognition may be paid
where jvayment is practicable. With such a]iolo,g\- there is therefore sub-
mitted the following list of Stop,- County enli>tnHiits and of death- in the
service.

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 183

First Iowa Infantry, Company K. — Jason D. Ferguson, Addison Davis,
Harrison H. Boyes. George F. Schoonover.

Second Iowa Infantry, Company D. — E. D. Fenn.

Third Iowa Infantry, Company E. — Jesse Bowen, Robt. J. Campbell,
Thos. D. Casebolt, VVm. H. Casebolt, John J. Cottle, Elisha B. Craig, Geo.
Crossley, Sam'l A. Daniel, Thos. M. Davis, Michael D. Deal, Thos. Dent,
David H. Dill. Jacob N. Dye, Chas. F. Ellison, Jas. H. Ewing, Joseph A.
Fitchpatrick, Wm. W. Fitchpatrick, Geo. W. Grove, Henry J. Hockerthorn,
Henry H. Hadley, E. F. Hampton, Nathaniel Jennings, George Jones, Wm.
McCowan, Jos. H. Miller, Chas. B. Ma.xwell, Guilford Mullen, Wm. J. Mul-
len, Isaac Riddle, Mons J. Riddle, John U. Schoonover, John Scott, lohn
Sessions, Wm. B. Taylor, Asa Walker, Wm. C. White, Wm. R. White,
Wm. A. Wise. Jesse R. Wood. Lewis M. \'incent.

Second Iowa Cavalry. Company B. — Amos A. Bartine, George Brou-
hard, George W. Boyes, Harrison H. Boyes, Thomas Booth, John W.
Clark, Frank Coffelt. H. F. Ferguson, Curtis Knight, Jas. McCoIlister,
John C. McHone, Elijah Purvis. Philip H. Ream. JuHus C. Robison. Achil-
les M. See, Wm. Schreckendcarl, Wm. Thomas, John M. Tanner, James
A. Wheatly, Thomas Wheatly, Porter Webb, Paul A. Queal.

Fourth Iowa Infantry, Company E. — Joseph P. Alderman.

Tenth Iowa Infantry, Company A. — Joseph Jones, James May, D. W.
Ballard. Henry Ballard, William B. Crumb, Wm. Horner, David Jones,
Jeremiah Presnall, John Hawks, George W. Kelley, Wm. Tanner, James
Howard, Lewis W. Smithheart.

Same regiment, Company K. — Thomas Hoy, Willis Hopkins, Samuel
Kelley, John Kelley, John O. Johnson, John Johnson, Torres T. Scott, W.
C. Shockley, Iver Twedt, Samuel Olson, Iric Iglin, James W. Ball. James
Brown, Amos P. Ball.

Twelfth Iowa Infantry, Company D. — Jason D. Ferguson. James D.
Ferner, F. D. Thompson, N. G. Price, Geo. V. Price, Henry W. Bailey.

Thirteenth Iowa Infantry, Company B. — Giles Swan.

Same regiment. Company E. — James Bales. Geo. W. Ketchum, Wm. A.
King. John R. Hall. Jackson C. Brown, Henry C. Cameron, Sereno Chand-
ler. Michael Dougherty. A. B. Griffith. Watson Humphrey. Geo. B. Kinsley,
James Ludvig. Cyrus D. Casebolt. Rob't D. Casebolt, Silas D. A. Allen,
Thomas Barret, Joseph Brown, Geo. Bigelow, S. D. Baird, Rob't T. Bales,
Peter Brown. D. N. Duke, B. Halley. Wm. R. Moore, James T. Mount.
Geo. W. Sessions, M. R. Cochran, Joseph Whitson. James Whitson, L. B.
Shook. Milo McCartney.

Same Regiment, Company V. — Elijah Wyre, Wm. Wilson.

Fourteenth Iowa Infantry, Company G. — Jos. J. Aldredge, Eugene
Willis, I. J. Davis, .\ddison Davis. Geo. Lowell. John Evens. T. J. Jorden,
Cornelius Joor. S. W. Jenks, John L. Martin, Turner McLain. Thomas Snell-
ing. Isaac Walker. Osmond Anfenson. L. D. Woodward. Henry Spangler,
John F. Shumaker.

184 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

Fifteenth Iowa Infantry, Company H. — John C. Elhott, Eh Elhott,
Ethan Post.

Sixteenth Iowa Infantry, Company F. — Marion Bell. W. O. Robison.

Seventeenth Iowa Infantry. — Ehas Shearer.

Eighteenth Iowa Infantry.— Rob't B. Campfield, Jerome Hay, Harry
Hunt, James Brouhard, James Blackman, Henry Leonard, John E. Fry,
George See, David See.

Twentieth Iowa Infantry, Company F. — Q. A. Boynton.

Twenty-third Iowa Infantry, Company A. — Nathaniel A. Alfred. Geo.
C. Baldock, Devillo P. Ballard, Charles M. Banning, Henry P. Banning,
J. E. Banning, Thomas F. Barton, James Bevington, John O. Booth, Jacob
Boren, Ira Briley, Pierson Brown, Andrew E. Chamberlain, Isaac H. Craig,
James Deal, Nathan V. Foot, David B. Foster, John E. Foster, Samuel
W. Gossard, Jacob A. Grove, Thomas J. Harrison, Toor Hegland. Israel
Helfry, Peter Helfry, Abraham Hiestand, Harvey J. Iliestand, Tames
Howard, Calvin Hussong, James P. Jenkins, Richard Jones, .\<lolphus
Kinsley, Daniel McCoy, Richard May, Chas. P. Miller, Thomas J. Miller.
Christopher Ness, Stephen P. O'Brien. Thomas Opsted. Oliver Scott,
George \V. Smiley, Collins Snyder, Levi J. Stratton, Geo. \V. Taylor,
Severt Tesdall. Chris Torkelson. Daniel J. Waters, Oliver Weeks, John
J. Wilsey, Powhattan Zenor, Henry D. Ballard, Gilbert Barber, Henry
Barber, XehenTiah F. Elsbree, James C. Lovell, Ilalsey M. Rhoads, Rob't
H. Robinson, Geo. F. Schoonover.

Same regiment. Company B. — Wm. Mercer.

Same regiment, Company C. — Geo. R. Yocum, Chester Hunt, James
W. Bright, John J. Harrison, John Yocum, Joshua Harrison.

Same regiment. Company F. — Elias Ersland, A. B. Ellingsworth, David
F. Minton, David A. Breezley, Elnathan I'.lackmore. Burgess Childress.

Same regiment. Company K. — Silas I. Shearer, C. P. McCord, Isaac
N. Shenkle, John .See.

Thirty-second Infantry, Company K. — Jos. Cadwaladcr, George Child,
Vincent Tomlinson, Jacob Burger, Nathaniel A. Mount, Isaac S. French,
Francis M. .Anderson, Elias Modlin, Jonas Duea, Wm. M. Edwards, George
H. Dunlap, Cyrus Davis, Isaac N. Alderman, Adolphus Prouty, Alba O.
Hall, Hezekiah Applegate, James M. Applegate, Lewis F. Brown, Smith
M. Childs, Nathaniel A. Cole, Osmund Egcland, Wm. M. Edwards, Henry
Elias.son, Peter Egeland, Riley I-'rench, David I'unk, Elihu .\. Grubb. Jo-
seph L. Harkness, Henry B. Henryson, Edward Hefley, George F. Hilton,
Henry S. Halleck, James A. Howard, Joel R. Hand, Jacob B. Jacobson,
Asa Josleyn, Thomas A. Lein, Erick R. Larson, James P. Meecum. Wil-
liam McGuire, David A. Moore, Josiah Middleton. Wm. McCullough, John
Nelson, Nels L. Nelson, John C. Russell, John Ritland. Thomas I. Spiller,
Silas N. See, Charles M. Sellers, James S. Stark, E. L. Sheldahl. Joseph
F. Smith, John S. Wood. Frank S. Daniels, W. S. Lemon.

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 185

Thirty-ninth Iowa Infantry, Company B. — W. J. Veneman, E. S. Mc-
Kenzie, Frank Lowell, Mathew Hanks, French Corey, Wm. H. Allen, Mar-
cus D. Corey, D. Wornack.

Forty-seventh Iowa Infantry. — Thor Fatland.

Seventh Iowa Cavalry. — Henry Tetwiler, Wm. Keltner.

Eighth Iowa Cavalry, Company I. — Levi Chandler, Wm. Brown, John
M. Fitchpatrick, Albert G. Briley, Milton McCain, David H. Mackey, John
O'Neil, I. D. Arrasmith.

Ninth Iowa Cavalry. — Wm. C. Evans.

Second Iowa Battery. — John B. Alderman, Deacon J. Whitaker.

U. S. C. Troops.— W. A. Wier.

Additional enlistments, (service not ascertained.) — I. M. Dill, Chas.
G. Smith, Eli Blickensderfer, Chelsey W. Baker, Geo. W. Hackerthorn,
Chas. S. Cadwallader, Joseph Bates, Ervin Harritt, John T. V. Croy.

ilORTUARV LIST OF STORY COUNTY SOLDIERS.

The following, so far as can now be ascertained is the list of Story
County soldiers who died while in the military service. Some were killed,
others died of wounds, still others from the hardships of prison life and
more from disease :

Third Iowa, Company E. — Nathaniel Jennings, Elisha B. Craig, Geo.
W. Grove, Henry H. Halley, Wm. B. Taylor, Lewis M. Vincent, Asa
Walker, Wm. R. White, Thomas M. Davis.

Tenth Iowa. — Wm. Crumb, Wm. Tanner, B. F. Craig, H. Howard, G.
Kelley.

Twelfth Iowa. — Jason D. Ferguson.

Thirteenth Iowa. — R. D. Casebolt, James T. Mount, S. D. Allen.

Fourteenth Iowa. — Sam W. Jenks, J. J. Aldredge, David C. Vail,
Thomas Snelling, Jno. F. Shumaker, Henry Spangler, J. L. Martin, Geo.
Lowell, Z. F. Martin.

Fifteenth Iowa. — E. Elliott.

Nineteenth Iowa. — H. Hunt.

Twenty-third Iowa. — Harvey J. Heistand, Chas. P. Miller, Geo. W.
Smiley, James Bevington, Pierson Brown, David B. Foster, Jno. E. Foster,
Jacob A. Grove, Thomas J. Harrison, Toor Hegland, James P. Jenkins,
Adolphus Kintzley. Daniel W. McCoy, Christopher Ness, Oliver Scott,
Levi J. Stratton, Collins Snyder, Oliver Weeks, Henry Barber, August
B. Illingsworth, Elias Ersland, David A. Breezley, Wm. Sunday, Jno.
Ballard, Wm. Mencer, Jno. Yocum, John See, I. N. Shenkle, Chas. E.
Culver.

Thirty-second Iowa, Company K. — N. A. Mount, O. Egeland, E. Modlin,
Wm. C. Ballard, D. J. Bloes, F. S. Daniels, H. Eliason, Peter Egeland, H.
B. Henryson, E. Hefley, J. R. Hand, Wm. L. Lemon, Wm. Pierce, C.
M. Sellers, J. Sorter, N. A. Tichenor, Jno. S. Wood.

186 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

Thirty-ninth Iowa— Marcus D. Corey, F. Lowell. D. Wornack.

F^orty-seventh, Iowa.— Thor Fatland.

Second Cavalry.— Capt. P. A. Oueal, Achilles M. See.

Seventh Iowa Cavalry. — Wm. Keltner.

Eighth Iowa Cavalry.— A. G. Briley. S. P.. Shaw.

Xinth Iowa Cavalry. — Wm. C. Evans.

CHAPTER XIX.
STORY COUXTY IX \ARIOL'S REGIMEXTS.

FIRST IOWA INFANTRY.

In response to President Lincoln's first call for seventy-five thousand
men for three months' service there were muhitudes of enhstments, and
companies were promptly organized, one or two, for each of the fairly
settled counties of the state. But one regiment, however, was Iowa's
quota under this call and the first ten companies which it was practicable
to raise and get to the Mississippi river were the ones that were organized
into the First Iowa Infantry regiment. There was no Story County com-
pany able to get into this organization ; but it did happen that four young
men from this county were enlisted in the Linn County company. Three
of these four were students at Cornell College at Mt. Vernon, and the
fourth was George F. Schoonover. All four of them served for the three
were Jason D. Ferguson, Harrison H. Boyes and Addison Davis, and the
fourth was George F. Schoonover. All four of them served for the three
months' term of enlistment of the. regiment, and all four of them saw
later service in other regiments. Ferguson expected after his return to
join Company B of the Seconil Iowa Cavalry, which had been organized
in Story and Marshall Counties before their muster out, but which had
not yet left Davenport for the South. But at Cedar Rapids he was per-
suaded to stop and help raise a company there, the invitation to do this,
coming from Captain Stibbs, who had been orderly sergeant of their
Company K, in the First Iowa, and who at this time became captain of
Company A, of the Twelfth Iowa Infantry, and later became colonel of
that regiment. Ferguson became first lieutenant of this company and was
killed at Shiloh. Jason D. Ferguson, Post of Nevada, G. A. R., is named
in his honor, and Captain E. B. Soper, who later commanded the com-
pany, pays to him a tribute which will appear further on. Boyes, like
Ferguson, started for Davenport, and there overtaking the Second Iowa
Cavalry, he joined Company B according to the original intention of them
both, served for four years in that company and was mustered out as
its second lieutenant. Davis about the same time reenlisted in Company G,
of the Fourteenth Iowa Infantry, served through the war, was mustered

187

188 HISTORY Ol- STORY COUNTY

out as first lieutenant, removed after the war to Kansas, where he pros-
pered for many years, and died in 1902 at Santa Barbara, California.
Schoonover did not reenlist so promptly, but he returned to Nevada, bought
out here The Advocate, which was the only newspaper in the county, and
for nearly two years conducted on extraordinarily vigorous republican
sheet. He sold out the paper in the fall of 1863, and soon after became a
recruit in Company A, of the 23d Iowa. He served out the war in this
company, and returning home was, in 1866, elected recorder of Story
County, in which office he died after a service of three months. The
only survivor of the quartette is Boyes, who like Schoonover, was elected
county recorder in 1880, and sen-ed for six years in that office. He has
spent most of his life in Howard township, and has only recently removed
to Nevada to make his permanent home. Viewed in the light which their
subsequent records afford, it is evident that this quartette was constituted
of four quite exceptional young men, and none worthier could possibly
have been found to make up tlie absolutely tirst rank of Story County
soldiers in the Civil war.

Mr. Boyes is the one who now can tell and does tell something of the
story of the service of this regiment, beginning fifty years ago the month
in which we are now writing. May of 1861. The three months for which
this regiment was enlisted was a short term in which to get into the field,
do actual service, and return iiome again, and the actual time from enlist-
ment to muster out was about four months. The service was almost
wholly in Missouri. The first assignment was in the vicinity of Hannibal,
to guard the Hannibal iK: St. Joe Railroad, which road was very likely to
have its bridges burned or right-of-way obstructed by bush-whackers,
gathered from the intensely "Secesh" population of northern Missouri.
Before long, however, the regiment was put into the campaign of General
Lyon, the i)urpose of which campaign was to preserve southwestern Mis-
souri for the Union. Along witli other volunteers and more regulars,
the regiment was transported jiartly across the state, ami then started
over the hills and vales of central Missouri afoot, in the direction of Joplin.
The orders of inarch, however, were several times changed, and in due
time the regiment arrived in tlie vicinity of Springfield, and engaged in
the battle ul Wilson's Creek. In this campaign the regiment did some
extraordinary marching and one day it covered forty-seven miles. In this
day's march the Iowa boys out-footed the regulars, took the lead from the
cavalry, and along in the evening came up out of a swamp, singing, "Ain't
I Glad to be Out of the Wilderness." It was a great march and at Wil-
son's Creek, they fought as zealously as they had traveled. This was the
first battle of the war for any Iowa troops. Harry Boyes says that he
thought in the battle he was perfectly cool, but that he found after awhile
that he had his mouth full of the ends of cartridges that he had bitten off
for the old fashioned muskets, not having thought to spit the ends out. In

IOWA SAMIAIMIM (I I' S K V K X T H DAY Al)Vp:XTISTS, AT NEVADA

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 189

this battle Schoonover, who was next to Boyes, was hit by a rebel grape-
shot, but without serious consequence.

But they did not save southwestern Missouri. In the battle of Wil-
son's Creek, the Union forces were greatly outnumbered, and though they
fought most gallantly, their general was killed, some of their guns captured,
and the army compelled to retreat. They made their way back to the
vicinity of the Missouri river, and there were so fortunate as to meet a
new outfit of uniforms. By this time the Iowa boys were in a very ragged
condition. Their original uniforms had been made for them by the women
of Cedar Rapids, and were not of a sort to stand indefinite campaigning,
even under favorable circumstances. Also they had by this time made
the acquaintance of the live stock, afterwards familiarly known as "grey-
backs," and when the time came for making the necessary change, the
arrangement was that the boys were marched to one side of a creek, the
uniforms were placed on the other side and they were not to carry any-
thing across. The new outfit consisted of a padded coat, pants, and shoes,
with no shirts, and it was an extraordinarily hot time in August. But they
got along somehow until they reached St. Louis and were furnished with
other supplies.

Soon after the return to St. Louis, the regiment was mustered out and
sent up the Mississippi by boat. There were very enthusiastic receptions
at Burlington and Muscatine, while at Davenport, the people out-did them-
selves to welcome home the three months' veterans, who had returned
from one strenuous, but not successful campaign. Four years later Mr.
Boyes returned to Davenport again, this time with the Second Cavalry,
which had for practically the whole period of the war been engaged in
the hardest sort of service, and which had been conspicuous in the break-
ing of Hood's lines at Nashville. But there were no welcoming throngs
then for the soldiers who had actually participated in putting down the
rebellion. The war had become an old story, and they made their own
camp and got their own supper. But the First Iowa had done all there
was to do during the time it was in the service and it had enlisted for
all the time that was asked when the first call was made for volunteers.
In its service it had in fact been a training school for officers of later
regiments, and it will be noted that of the Story County quartette, three
became lieutenants in other commands, while the fourth was an inspira-
tion for loyal enthusiasm in his conduct of a county paper. The boys of
Company K, First Iowa Infantry, were an example to all that came after.
They got no more applause than their deserts, whether the later veterans
had just recognition or not.

TENTH IOWA INFANTRY.

No company of the Tenth Infantry was organized in Story County or
has been counted a Story County company; but it is nevertheless true that

Vol. 1—13

190 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

the county was well represented in companies A and K of tliat regiment.
If tlic two squads had been in one company they would have made up
nearly one-third of its complement. l>ut the two squads being of about
equal strength were neither of them large enough to secure the recog-
nition to which together they might have been entitled.

The regiment was mustered at Iowa City in September 1861 with
nine companies and Company K, which was the tenth, joined it in October.
The colonel of this regiment was Nicholas Perczel, a Hungarian from
Davenport, and one impression that we get of him is that he was a good
fighter but not so adept at getting his name in the newspapers as were the
lawyer colonels of some other regiments. But the record shows that the
regiment saw the most genuine service. It was at Island Number Ten, at
Corinth, at luka, where it won the distinction of repeatedly stopping the
rebel advance with very small loss to itself ; in the X'icksburg campaign and
in the thick of the light at Chami)ion Hill where it fought at close range
until its ammunition was exhausted and lost nearly one-half of its men
engaged ; the assault at X'icksburg, with Sherman on his march to the
relief of Thomas at Chattanooga and with Sherman again to Atlanta. Sa-
vannah and u]) through the Carolinas. It is a record without blemish.

TWi:i,l-TH IOW.\ INK.\NTKV.

The Twelfth Infantry was a regiment in which Story County had a
small representation. Hut this representation was notable because of the
fact that it was headed by Jason D. P'erguson, who had served in the First
Iowa, became one of the organizers of Company D, of the Twelfth Iowa
at Cedar Rapitls, was elected its first lieutenant, was mortally wounded
at Shiloh and has given his name to the Grand Army Post at Nevada. The
chief organizer of the company was Captain John H. Stibbs of Cedar
Rapids, who later became colonel of the regiment, and a later company
officer was Capt. *E. B, Soper who has, ilirough the favor <if Col. Rood,
furnished special tribute to Lieutenant I'erguson. In this command also
were !•". U. Thompson and Jas. D. h'erner, Iwth of whom were in after years
postmasters of Nevada and the former of whom has contributed to other
])ortions of this history. The tribute of Captain Soper to Lieutenant
[•"erguson was as follows.

"Jason D. Ferguson enlisted with other students at Mount Wrnon, .April
18. r86i in Comi)any K, ist. Reg. la. Inf. Vol., for three months, and
during his service displayed soldierly qualities besides cons()icuous gal-
lantry at the Battle of Wilson's Creek. After the muster out of the regi-
ment upon the expiration of the term, I-'erguson was invited by Captain
Stibbs to assist in the formation of a company for the 12th Iowa \ols..
at Cedar Rapids, and they secured as many of their comrades of the ist
la, as were willing to enlist.

"When the war broke out Nathan (). Trice, a friend and boon com-
panion of I-'erguson's, was seeking for gold about Pike's Peak, and he Inir-

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 191

ried home as fast as an ox team could hurry down the Platte river valley
and across the state of Iowa. Ferguson and Price had both planned to
join their Story County friends in the 2d la. Cavalry at Davenport, but
first Ferguson and then Price were prevailed upon to enlist in Co. D of
the 1 2th la., and upon organization of the company, Ferguson was elected
first lieutenant and made a most competent and acceptable officer. He
served with credit at Fort Donelson and distinguished himself at Shiloh,
receiving, the evening of April 6th, 1862, about the time of the surrender
of his regiment, a mortal wound.

"On the march to the position assigned to the command, a premonition
of certain death, that day, came to Ferguson, and he communicated it to
his friend Price and possibly others ; yet he conducted himself with great
gallantry, and between attacks of the enemy upon the position of the regi-
ment at the Hornet's Nest, he imparted to his friend Price messages to his
family and kindred and also specified articles he desired sent to each.
When surrounded and while attempting to break through the rebel lines
toward the Landing at the camp of the 3d la. Inf., a bullet passed through
his body inflicting a mortal wound. Upon learning the fact Price asked
permission to care for him, and the privilege was granted and a confederate
guard placed in charge.

"During the night. Price and his guard were employed, not only in car-'
ing for Ferguson, but other wounded of both armies. The night was in-
describable, rain falling, groans of wounded and dying, bursting shells from
the gun boats e.xploding on them but nevertheless both faithfully worked,
bringing water and ministering to the sufiferers. When the Federals ad-
vanced in line of battle on the 7th, causing a retreat of the rebels. Price,
in order to escape being taken from Ferguson and compelled to join his
comrades in a southern prison, wrapped bloody garments about him and
groaned in feigned agony, as the confederates' rear guard gathered up
those who were able to travel. After the advance of the federal lines the
wounded were gathered up and transferred to the landing to be placed on
steamers, but Ferguson died soon after reaching the landing, during the
forenoon of the 7th ; and Price, regaining his Enfield rifle and equipments,
where they had been hastily thrown at the time of the surrender, fought
to the end of the battle with an Illinois regiment belonging to Buell's army,
and has the distinction of being the one man of the 12th Iowa that fought
both days in the thick of battle at Shiloh.

"Nathan G. Price lived to fight in every battle his regiment was en-
gaged in during the war and was one of the bravest men in the 12th Iowa;
and now surrounded by his children, on their highly improved farms in
Jewell county, Kansas, he enjoys the comforts that come from affluence
acquired by a clean life and honest toil.

"Ferguson was a young officer of promise, a born leader of men, and
a man of high moral character, pure motives, prompt intelligence and
efficiency. His loss was deplored by his company and regiment. His com-

192 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

rades buried him near the camp on the high bluff overlooking the Tennes-
see river and his body now rests in a known grave in the beautiful national
cemetery at Pittsburg Landing. "

THIRTEENTH IOWA INFANTRY.

Story County had a strong representation in Company E of the Thir-
teenth Iowa. The company was made up chiefly from the eastern part of
the state and it does not appear that the Story County squad received spe-
cial consideration; but there were at least thirty from the county in the
company. This regiment is distinguished in the beginning from the fact
that its first colonel was Marcellus j\I. Crocker, a very distinguished young
lawyer of Des Moines. He was promoted to be brigadier general and rose
to the command of a division and might readily have risen still higher if
his physical strength had been proportionate to his abilities.

This regiment was in the thick of the fight at Shiloh and when on the
afternoon of the first day's tight and the disorganized portions of the
Union army were reforming acconling to their own notion for the repulse
of the last rebel charge, the remnants of the Thirteenth attached themselves
to Colonel Tuttle"s division and shared in the final victory. Later the regi-
ment was at Corinth, luka, ail through the X'icksburg campaign, in the
Meridian campaign, and with Sherman from Chattanooga to the Carolinas
and Washington.

GENER.\L CROCKER.

General Crocker during the \'icksburg campaign, and perhai)s at other
times, had in his brigade or division the Third Iowa and other regiments
in which Story County was strongly represented and probably he had under
his general command, at one time or another, more Story County troops
than was true of any other Iowa officer. This fact gives pertinence to vari-
ous stories about him to which reference is probably now as appropriate
as at any time. The general died at Washington City in .Xugust, 1865. A
few weeks before that time, he had been in Nevada to take the cars on his
way from Des Moines to the national capital, and his visit was the occa-
sion of respectful attention. He was then in delicate health and we had
been holding a command in Arizona ; but he tired of service there and
returned to Iowa. Hence he went first to Washington, and the climate of
that city in August brought his troubles to a conclusion. His body was
brought from Wasiiington back to Nevada and hence was taken across
the country to Des Moines. This was the general's last passage through
the village where he had often practiced as a lawyer and where were many
of his warmest admirers. The contemporary' report of this visit said : "The
remains of the late General Crocker arrived on Saturday in a special car
under military escort and immediately went forward to Des Moines. The
car used by the Northwestern Company was properly draped in mourning

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 193

and surrounded by United States flags. The seats were removed from the
center of the car and the coffin rested upon an appropriately trimmed plat-
form."

Many years afterwards. Senator J. A. Fitchpatrick, writing from the
point of view of a Third Iowa veteran, wrote of General Crocker as follows :

"At the beginning of the war AI. M. Crocker was the most noted criminal
lawyer in the state. As an advocate he was brilliant and effective, seldom
losing out in a case. He was born in Johnson County, Indiana, February
6, 1830, son of Col. Joseph G. Crocker. He removed to near Fairfield, Iowa,
in 1844 with his father, and in 1846 Senator A. C. Dodge secured for
him the appointment as a cadet to West Point. But after remaining at
the military academy about one year he was obliged to return home to care
for the family on account of his father's death. He tilled the little farm,
taught school in winter, studied law during spare moments and in 1851
was admitted to the bar, got married and located at Lancester, Keokuk
county. He removed to Des Moines in 1854, entering at once upon a stren-
uous practice in a territory radiating at least fifty miles in every direction
from his home. All the old settlers in Story County knew him well. He
was a genial, whole-souled fellow and the life of any kind of a crowd. In
politics he was a democrat, but seldort: took an active part in party gather-
ings. Shortly after he entered the service, however, in congratulating Gov-
ernor Kirkwood on his message, he took occasion to say that he had be-
come convinced that slavery was the cause of the war, and there could be
no lasting peace between the two sections of the country until the system
of human slavery was eradicated, and that the war ought to continue until
that was accomplished. At the first call for troops in April 1861, he or-
ganized a company and tendered it to the government and it became Com-
pany D, of the 2d Iowa Infantry. Upon the organization of the regiment
he was made major and afterward lieutenant colonel. In the fall of that
year he was commissioned colonel of the 13th Iowa. In November, 1862,
he was nominated as a brigadier general, but for some reason this nomina-
tion was held and not confirmed by the senate until the March following.
He was then in command of the famous Crocker's Iowa Brigade. He re-
ceived his commission just at the time General Grant was crossing the river
for the rear of Vicksburg, and was temporarily assigned to the command
of Quimby's division of the 17th Corps. He was actively engaged by the
side of General Logan in the several fierce battles following, displaying
such counage and skill that General Grant, who seldom complimented a
volunteer officer, speaking of the battles in his Memoirs, Vol. i. Page 497,
says:

" T regard Logan and Crocker as being as competent division com-
manders as could be found in or out of the army, and both equal to a much
higher command. Crocker, however, was dying of consumption when he
volunteered. His weak condition never put him on the sick list, when there
was a battle in prospect, as long as he could keep his feet.'

194 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

"After the siege of X'icksburg was well under way, General Crocker was
sent home in an endeavor to recruit liis health, and while in Des Moines
he was warmly solicited to run for governor on the republican ticket. His
reply was such as befitted the man, viz: 'Xo good soldier should run for
any office while the war is on, and a bad soldier is unfit for governor.'

CROCKER .\ND THE THIRD IOW.\.

"He returned to the front just at the time General Laumaii retired from
the 4th division of the 17th corps, and he was given command of that di-
vision and assigned to command the post at Natchez. The 3rd regiment was
the only Iowa troops in this new command, and he always appeared to liave
a neighborly feeling for the boys. \\'e were constantly near him and all
the boys learned to love him.

"He was quite irritable, probably on acconm (if his jxiiir health, and im-
petuous in his manner. .\t times he was thrilling in his speech and at no
time was there any doubt as to the meaning of what he said, nor that he
expected to be obeyed. However, he was always kind and considerate of
his men, at the same time demanding and expecting of them their whole duty
u])on all occasions. Any officer, soldier or civilian brought before liim for
some dereliction seldom received more than a reprimand, but that was of
such a nature tliat the culprit was careful not to be brought the second time.

"In December, 1863, his command was returned to \'icksburg and the ist
of February following started on the Meridian expedition, which, taking
just thirty days' time through a territory rich in forage, and never before
traversed by our troops, was greatly enjoyed by our boys.

"It was the custom in our mess on this tri]) for one or two of us each day
to i'in-ni<li tlic necessary supply of fresh meat, .\fter being out alx)ut ten
<lays we learned on one occasion that we should go into camj) about a mile
farther on; and so I'artley Pardee and myself started out in quest of sup-
plies, which we found rather scarce on account of others having been over
the ground ahead of us. However, we s(X)n struck the trail of a hog an<l
got a glimpse of it as it entered a small o])en shed covered by tall grass. We
shortly surrounded it and brought it down and started in to dress it suf-
ficiently to lighten the burden and enable us to carry it to camp. Our shot
had no doubt attracted the attention of the rebel scouts, and we had just
got started when they came up and fired at us. We picked up our game and
made for the brush close by, working our way toward camp, finally reaching
a picket post about half a mile from camp. The post was in charge of a
New Jersey lieutenant, who ordered us to drop our loot and .submit to ar-
rest. We told him the johnnies were after us and that we i)rcferrc<l to get
inside the lines and would then argue the question, and we moved on past
his post. He became furious and ordered a guard to surround and disarm
us. We kept om- guns and stood guard over our iielongings, telling liim thai
we W'estern fellows were not used to that kind of treatment. We gave him

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 195

our correct names and the name of the company, regiment and division to
which we belonged. He no doubt thought we were lying and went to his
superior officer for orders. Returning shortly he said he would take us to
Crocker's headquarters. He told us to leave our forage, but we demurred,
telling him that he would need that for evidence of our guilt when he turned
us in. We guyed the lieutenant all the way in. To our remark that we were
sorry for him he asked. 'Why?' We then asked him if he knew General
Crocker and he answered that he had never heard of him. We answered,
'Well, you will hear from him pretty soon.' At the same time we were
not entirely easy in our minds as to the outcome. We finally reached head-
quarters, and Crocker came out of his tent, and the lieutenant reported that
he had a couple of his men who were arrested while attempting to pass the
picket line bringing in forage. The general's eyes flashed fire as he said to
the lieutenant, 'You don't mean to say that you have disturbed me simply
to report that some of my men have been caught bringing into camp some-
thing to eat !' and added, T told my men when we crossed Black river that
our quartermaster was supplied with plenty of crackers and coffee, but that
he had no meat, and supposed they had sense enough to provide meat for
themselves if they wanted any. I will take care of these boys and you can
report back to your command.' He said all this and much more in a vein
that no other than Crocker was capable of. and the lieutenant departed in a
manner indicating that he was glad to get away.

"The general then turned to us and demanded fiercely why we were be-
yond the picket line, and we told him mildly that we fell out of ranks about
a mile back to get some needed supplies, and we did not know that we were
beyond the lines until we ran up against the pickets on our way to camp.
He lectured us severely and asked us what we had. We showed him all we
had brought in and he then told us to report to our company and when we
were wanted he would send for us. Our boys were camped about fifty
yards away. We finished dressing the hog and took a ham and gave it to
Crocker's cook.

Crocker's last d.\ys.

"General Crocker remained with our division until about the first of July
following and while on the Atlanta Campaign, he became so weakened in
body that he was obliged to relinquish his command, and was succeeded by
General Walter Q. Gresham. The boys parted with him with great regret
and many expressions of .sympathy. He was then given the command of
the department of Arizona, or New Mexico, in the hope that in that climate
he might be able to rally his health. He improved rapidly and, becoming
restless over the tameness of his duties, sought a return to active service,
which request was finally granted, and he was ordered to report to General
Thomas of the department of the Cumberland for assignment to a command ;
but this being before the days of railroads west of the Missouri, the return
trip was too arduous, and on his way east he was continuously exposed to

196 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

inclement weather. Suffering a relapse, he never fully recovered. However,
in the summer of 1865, he regained sufficient .'Strength to go to Washington
for the purpose of winding up his affairs with the government, and having
done so he took to his couch, as if to repose in pleasant dreams of duties
well accomplished, and soon expired, beloved and honored bv all who were
privileged to serve, either under him or over him.

Had General Crocker's strength of IxkIv equaled his power of mind,
there is no doubt that he would have quit the senice ranking, because of
brilliant achievements, among the greatest soldiers produced by the war.
He was unusually quick to take in the situation and prompt, aggressive and
effective in action, seldom, if ever, making a mistake; and no general in the
western army, save Logan, was his equal in that respect. General Crocker,
in mental equipment, courage and decisiveness, was fully equal to Logan ;
his military training was superior, but in physical strength and power of
endurance Logan had a great advantage. "J. A. F. "

FOURTEE.N'TH IOW.\ INF.\NTRV.

There was quite a squad of .Story County men in Company G of the
Fourteenth Jowa. The regiment was organized in October and November,
1861, and ser\-ed through the war. Its commander was Colonel W. L.
Shaw, of Anamosa, and the most trying situation that it ever got into was
at Pleasant Hill in the Red River campaign, where the Fourteenth was
next to the Thirty-second Iowa. (Col. Scott's regiment) in the very front
line and in the thickest part of that battle.

Addison Davis, who had seen service as one of the First Iowa Regi-
ment, was second sergeant of Company G and became second lieutenant
later. The case of Henry Spangler of this company is typical of what
ha[)pened to some soldiers. Spangler was a shoemaker in Nevada, a young
man and married. He did not hurry into the war. but in January. i8f)4,
when men were especially needed, he enlisted and became a recruit in the
Fourteenth Iowa. Other recruits from this locality were being sent to the
front and their story is that all the way down the Mississippi. Spangler was
es])ccially despondent. He joined his regiment in the Red River campaign
and he had barely entered his first action when he was killed, by a minie
ball through his head. He probably was killed after shorter service than
was the case of any other Story County soldier, excepting John F. Shoe-
maker, also of Nevada, who enlisted at the same time with Spangler and
was killefl in the same battle of Pleasant Hill.

TIIK ICir.IITH C.W.M.RV.

Company I of the Eighth Cavalry, was organized at Marshalltown and
had two squads from Story County, one from about Squaw Fork and the
other from the vicinity of Fast Indian. There were altogether only eight or

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 197

ten of them but they belonged to a command that saw exceptionally hard ser-
vice. The first captain was Elliot Shartz, afterwards colonel, and in later
years postmaster. The regiment was mustered at Davenport in August
1863, proceeded to Louisville and Nashville, was assigned to the army of the
Cumberland and chased bushwhackers through middle Tennessee through
the following winter, sending eight hundred of them to the war prison at
Rock Island. In 1864, it was in the Atlanta campaign, and was engaged
at Resaca and Kenesaw mountain. At Noonan, south of Atlanta, the regi-
ment got into very close quarters. It had been sent out to cut a railroad,
and was there to unite with another command under General Stoneman.
Stoneman failed to arrive, but rebels arrived on trains from both ways and
proceeded to get on several sides of the cavalry. The regiment lost heavily
on this occasion and of the Story County squad Albert Briley was killed and
John Fitchpatrick was captured and sent to Andersonville where he met his
brother Joseph A. of the Third Infantry who had been captured at Atlanta.
The regiment was the rear guard of Thomas's army of the retreat in front
of Hood to Nashville and it saw some of its hardest fighting at Franklin,
on the morning after which engagement Company I had eight men left in
line. The remnants of the regiment were in the attack when Hood's army
was destroyed at Nashville. In the spring of 1865 it went on Wilson's
raid through Alabama and Georgia and while so engaged it met the news of
peace coming from the rebel side at Macon. Afterwards, it joined in the
chase after Jefif Davis and captured his supply train ; but the fallen chief of
the confederacy was captured by the Fourth Michigan cavalry, another
regiment of the same brigade.

CHAPTER XX.

THIRD TOWA IXI-AXTRV.

As has already been suggested, the Third Iowa Infantry has a recognized
claim from the Story County point of view for the first consideration among
the regiments in which Story County was represented during the Civil war.
The county was too far inland for it to be able to get a company into the
held in time to be accepted as a part of the one regiment which was Iowa's
quota under President Lincoln's first call for troops. The company was
organized and tendered but could not be accepted by Gov. Kirkwood be-
cause the first regiment was already full. \'ery soon, however, there fol-
lowed a second call by the president for more men and under this call Iowa
was expected to furnish two regiments to serve for three years or for the
war. Iowa's response to this call was the organization of the Second and
Third regiments of Iowa Infantry, and insomuch as the fir.st regiment which
alone had preceded them had been raised for a ninety day service only and
proved in fact to be chiefly a most valuable training school for volunteers in
still later regiments, the Second and Third Iowa were the earliest organiza-
tions that went from this state to the field enlisted for the war and destined
in fact to serve out the war. These two regiments went out on equal foot-
ing— the grouping of companies into one or the other being largely acci-
dental. They saw similar service through the most of the war. were in the
thickest of the fight together at Shiloh and when both had been deiileted by
the casualties and hardships of the war. until neither was longer entitled to
maintain a regimental organization, they were united in one battalion whicii
was thereafter kii.iwn .i^ tlu- Second Irnva Consolidated, it was for suoli
an organizatiii'i and service that Comjjany V. of the Third Iowa Infantry was
first Ijrought together in the ol<l courthouse at Xevada. The i«lea of Story
County furnishing by itself a company for one or the other of these two
regiments had been ilisccniraged at the state capital; but recognition bad Ix-cn
jiromised for a company to be organized from Story ami lloone countie-
and Story County having been first of the counties in this neighborhood
with its tender r)f a company for the I'irst Iowa, it maintaine<l its seniority
as the one north of Des .Moines, in which one of the new companies should
be formed. So the squads fmrn other counties came to Xevada for or-
ganization. When the squads came together. Story and I'.ooiie had about

198

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 199

forty men apiece while the rest of the company was made up from Hamil-
ton, Marshall and Jasper, these smaller details falling in with the Story
bunch and so giving the latter the advantage over the Boone crowd. These
geographical matters were important in the first organization of the com-
pany but were hardly ever heard of afterwards. The company vi^ent out a
unit in sentiment and the spirit of unity characterized the company
and the regiment and the later consolidated regiment to the end.
In the company were the young men of the county wdio had been first to
volunteer after the firing on Sumter, and whose enthusiasm did not falter
when the processes of reenlistment, reorganization and consolidation had
afforded to them ample opportunity for the exercise of second thought in
the matter of going in for the war. Those who actually went constituted a
splendid contribution to the nation's service.

The general story of the regiment and the company is best told for the
liresent purpose in the two articles written about the time of the last regi-
mental reunion at Xevada in 1906, by Col. G. W. Crossley of Webster City
and Senator J. A. Fitchpatrick of Nevada. Both had enlisted in the com-
pany at Nevada and could write with fullest understanding. Crossley was
the first orderly sergeant of Company E but was soon jumped to first lieu-
tenant and after Shiloh. where he came out of the first day's fight the senior
officer still present and in actual command of the remnants of the regiment,
he was again jumped this time over all the captains to the position of major.
Still later he was brevetted lieutenant colonel. Fitchpatrick was younger
and went through the service as a private. He was captured at Shiloh but
soon exchanged and was in all the battles of the regiment up to the battle
of Atlanta, where the regiment was cut to pieces and he was again captured,
this time going to Andersonville, where he remained until released by ex-
change. The two are most admirably qualified to speak for the regiment
and the company and their reviews are given herewith :

crossley's review of the third reoimext.

Under proclamation of the president of the United States bearing date
May 3rd, 1861, the ten companies composing the 3rd Iowa Infantry Vol-
unteers were ordered into quarters at Keokuk, Iowa, May i8th, 1861.

These ten companies were mustered into the service of the United States
on June 8th and loth, 1861. The aggregate strength of the regiment closely
approximated one thousand men. The ist and 2nd Iowa Infantry had been
mustered into the service only a short time before and these three regiments
constituted the full quota of our state under the president's call for troops
up to that date and the general presumption was that no further calls for
troops would be necessary and that the 2nd and 3rd Iowa whose term of
enlistment was for three years would most likely not be required to serve
longer than the ist whose term of enlistment was for three months, but that
gallant regiment fought at the battle of Springfield, Missouri, after its term

200 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

of service had actually expired. Then we began to realize the magnitude of
the task before us and that our three year term of service might expire be-
fore the task was accomplished. This proved to be the case, the last sur-
vivors of the 3rd Iowa being mustered out of the service at Louisville,
Kentucky, in the latter part of the summer of 1865, more than four years
from the time of their enlistment at Keokuk. At the close of the first three
years three-fourths of the men then able for duty reenlisted for another
three years and the history of the regiment therefore covers the entire
period of that great war. Time will only permit brief reference to the
service performed by the regiment during that long and bitter struggle.

The regiment remained in quarters at Keokuk but a short time before it
was ordered into active service. We took the field insufficiently equipped
and witli but brief opportunity for becoming acquaintetl with the real duties
of soldiers. Only a very few of our officers or men had had experience in
actual warfare. There were a few Mexican war veterans, among them the
then L'a])tain of Company V.. jolm Scott of Nevada, where this little remnant
of llie survivors are now assembled. We had but little time to study the
theory of war apart from its practice and this fact no doubt proved of ad-
vantage to us for we at once became hard students and found quick occasion
for practical use of the knowledge we had gained. The imperative necessity
for i^romptly invading the enemy's territory was such that we took the field
under the command of the senior captain of the regiment, and our field and
staff officers were not a])i)ointed until we were in camp in the immediate
vicinity of the enemy. Our first Colonel. N. G. Williams, had not previously
belonged to the regiment. He was appointed by the governor on account of
his having had some military education and training at West Point, but on
the start that only proved a disadvantage to him and to the regiment, as we
were not prepared for the severe discipline which he at once enforced. Cap-
tain Scott of Company \i was our first lieutenant colonel and Capt. Wm.
M. Stone of Company 1! was our first major. The subsequent changes on
account of casualties in battle and transfers by promotion to other regi-
ments, were many. Scott became colonel of the 32nd and Stone colonel of
the 22nd Iowa Infantry and the numerous other changes which took place
would make a list too long to be given here.

We remained in Missouri until March 1862, and the history of that
campaign — covering the summer, autumn, and winter of 1861-2 if given in
detail would show a record involving great hardship from long marches, num-
erous encounters with the enemy culminating in one engagement in which
our loss was very heavy — the battle of Wue Mills fought September 17th,
i8(ii — forty-five years ago yesterday. Lieut. Col. John Scott commanded
the rif,'imcnt in that battle and we who were with him there know how
bravely be led u> against the enemy who greatly outnumbered us, how we
maintained the unequal contest for more than an hour in the vain liojic that
our expected reinforcements would reach u> before night woidd come, how
we fought imtil nearly surroundeil and then safely conducted our retreat

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 201

until after dark when we met the troops coming to our assistance, how we
lay upon our arms ready to resume the attack at dawn of day and how we
found the enemy had retreated under cover of the night.

During this arduous campaign we also had the experience inseparable
from the breaking in and seasoning of raw troops, a loss from sickness far
out of proportion to our loss sustained in battle. In our subsequent cam-
paigns, as we became used to hardships and exposure, and learned how
better to adapt ourselves to the hard conditions of a soldier's life, we suf-
fered less from sickness ; in fact we became thoroughly seasoned soldiers.
We also learned in the hard school of war the lesson of discipline so neces-
sary to the proper discharge of a soldier's duty.

The winter of 1862 found the regiment scattered in detachments of one
and two companies each at stations along the line of the North Missouri
railway, guarding the line and keeping it open for the transportation of
troops and supplies. This was both important and arduous service and in-
volved great hardship in a climate but little milder than that of Iowa. Early
in the spring of 1862 we found ourselves embarked at St. Louis as part of
the army of reinforcement to General Grant who had just captured Forts
Donelson and Henry and was preparing to move against Jolinson at
Corinth, Mississippi. Little did we think at that time that in so short a time
we would be fighting on the defensive instead of striking the enemy in his
chosen position at Corinth and that so long a time would elapse before we
would confront him there. We were now for the first time assigned to a
regular brigade and division organization and placed in readiness to partici-
pate in the operations of a large army. Our brigade consisted of the
28th, 32nd and 41st Illinois regiments and our own and formed a part
of the 4th Division, Army of the Tennessee. From that time to the
close of the war the 3rd Iowa was a part of that splendid army and
shared its fortunes in many hard fought battles. Shortly after our ar-
rival at Pittsburg Landing came the battle of Shiloh in which we were
to take so conspicuous a part. In that great battle Iowa had eleven
regiments engaged. The official record of the war department compiled with
great care from the reports of the commanders of the regiments, brigades,
and divisions, show the number of killed, wounded and captured. From this
record the inscription upon the bronze tablets attached to the battle monu-
ment erected by the state of Iowa for each of its regiments which fought
there is taken. These inscriptions have been approved by the War Depart-
ment and pronounced historically correct. There they will stand forever to
show to the world a record of valor and heroism that will compare favorably
with that shown by soldiers upon any battle field in history.

While every one of the Iowa regiments engaged in that battle is en-
titled to equal honor — because, under conditions in which they fought each
one performed its whole duty — the fact remains that the 3rd Iowa sus-
tained the greatest loss in killed and wounded, the average loss in the eleven
regiments being twenty per cent while that of the 3rd was twenty-eight per

202 HISTORY OI' STORY COUNTY

cent. If to the list of killed and wounded we add the captured the loss of
the eleven Iowa regiments is increased to thirty-six per cent of the numher
engaged because of the fact that three regiments — the 8th. uih and 14th.
were nearly all taken prisoners. The total number of Iowa troojxs engaged
was 6.664 and of this number 1,325 were killed and wounded and 1,057 were
capiured, making a total loss of 2,409. If we add the loss of the 3rd Iowa in
captured to the number of its killed and wounded its percentage would be
T,;^ 1/3, and it had but 30 captured, nearly all of whom were wounded. Of
the 1,057 Vdkeu jirisoners, 952 were from the three regiments I have named,
leaving but 105 taken prisoners from the other eight regiments. Reference
to the official reports and the map of the battlefield showing the positions of
the Iowa regiments near the close of the battle on the first day will show
that they were in a most critical position. The 3rd was nearly surrounded
near its own camp ground but fought its way through. The 8th, i2tli and
14th were coiupletely surrounded and compelled to surrender at and near
our camp just after we had passed beyond it and narrowly escaped capture.
I think it is not claiming too much for the three captured Iowa regiments and
the 3rd which came so near sharing their fate, to say that by their stubborn
resistance and slowness to retreat, they contributed much toward the jire-
vention of a complete victory of the enemy on that day.

After Shiloh the 3rd was engaged in the long siege operations against
Corinth and led its brigade over the works on the morning of the evacuation
of that strong-hold and in the pursuit of the enemy which followed. Then
came the hard campaign of the summer of 18^)2 in which the 3rd bore its
full share culminating in the battle of the Hatchic where it again suffered a
heavy loss in killed and wounded. Then followed the Mississijipi Central
expedition, that long and arduous march with X'icksburg as the objective
point. I'ollowing the failure of that e.\])edition we returned to Memphis
There we rested for a short time pre|)aring for the mighty struggle before
us — the second cami)aign against Nicksbiug. This time the approach was
by water. We weiil from Memphis hy Imi.ii and joined the investing force
at the siege of X'icksburg participating in the siege from its commencement
until the surrender on the 4th nf July. 181)3.

ihe iiii>rning after tiie surrender we marched with Sherman again.st
Johnson, tiieii occu])ying the works around the state capitol at Jackson.
There on the 12th of July. 18(13 the 3rd Iowa ])artici])ated in a charge upon
the enemy's works and there in the brief space o{ twenty minutes one half
of its men and officers were killed and womided. I'rom Jackson the regi-
ment now greatly reduced in numbers returned to N'icksburg. b'rom there
we went down the river to N'atchez where aside from occasional short ex-
peditions and small skirmishes with the enemy's cavalry, we enjoyed a sea-
son of comparative rest. While there a giKxl many who had so far recovered
from wounds and sickness as to be again able for duty returned to the
regiment and some recruits also joined us there. In Xovember we re-
turned to our old camp near Vicksburg and while there three- fourths of

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 203

those who had enlisted at the commencement of the war, reenlisted for an-
other three years.

In midwinter 1864 the regiment participated in the famous Meridian ex-
pedition under Sherman during which we lost a number of men in killed,
wounded, and captured, and most of these were men who had reenlisted.
The captured were taken to Andersonville and several died there from ex-
posure and starvation. Upon our return to Vicksburg those who had re-
enlisted were given a furlough for thirty days while those who did not re-
enlist went with General Banks upon his ill fated Red River expedition and
suffered great hardship. Upon the return from Red river those who sur-
vived were mustered out of the service.

The reenlisted portion of the regiment received some recruits while on
furlough and returned to take part in Sherman's Atlanta campaign. At
.Atlanta on the 22d day of July, 1864, the Third Iowa again went into the
hell of battle and emerged with such heavy loss that its identity as a regi-
mental organization could no longer be maintained. The survivors were
merged with the 2nd Iowa Infantry and remained with that regiment on the
march through Georgia to the Sea and on to Washington where it partici-
pated in the grand review and was mustered out of the service at Louis-
ville, Kentucky, in July 1865.

I have given in this paper only an imperfect outline, a mere sketch of
the history of the regiment represented by the few survivors who meet in
reunion here today. Not all who still survive are here, but if they were they
would show but a small and fading remnant of that once mighty military
organization.

fitchp.^trick's review ok company e.

April 15th, 1861, President Lincoln issued the first call for troops a.sking
the states to furnish seventy five thousand militia for active service for
ninety days and one regiment was apportioned to Iowa. Under this call
Capt. John Scott organized a company at Nevada and Capt. Samuel B. Mc-
Call organized another one at Boonesboro and both were tendered to Gov-
ernor Kirkwood at the same time, but the full quota had already been ac-
cepted and the captains were told to hold their companies in readiness for a
future call.

May 3rd, 1861, the president issued another call for 42,034 volunteers
"to serve for three years unless sooner discharged," and two more infantry
regiments thereunder were assigned to Iowa. Both captains were promptly
on hand with tenders of their respective companies, but the offers from other
parts of the state were so insistent that the governor decided to accept only
one company from this locality and suggested that Captains Scott and Mc-
Call get together and arrange the matter between themselves. With the
understanding that on the organization of the regiment Scott would he
made a field officer the agreement was soon arrived at that tliese two would
unite and tender one company, which was done and the same accepted.

204 HISTORY OK STORY COUNTY

The change of the term of enU>tincnt from ninety days to three years
made it an easy matter to reduce the number of men in the two companies
to the maximum of cnhsted men and non-commissioned officers permitted in
a single company of infantry; but the matter of weeding out the surplus
officers was a different proposition.

The Nevada Company was originally organized with Scott as captain,
Paul A. Queal, the most brilliant young lawyer ever located in Nevada, as
first lieutenant, and George Child, second lieutenant. Child retired grace-
fully but not so with Queal. He worked among the men and went with
them to the old court house to help organize. Scott was unanimously elected
captain and so was AlcCall for ne.xt place, when some one nominated Queal
for second lieutenant and he evidently had a majority of the boys with him.
Scott then took the floor and plainly stated his reasons why it would not be
congenial to have Queal go as an officer and Queal taking umbrage at some
of the statements went for the captain striking at him with a cane. Scott
picking up a chair warded off the force of the blows, striking back with the
chair until others interfered and marched Queal out of the room ; but for a
few moments there was a lively row. Order was finally restored, when
William A. Wise of Iowa Center was elected to the place by one vote over
Nathaniel Jennings of Franklin township. Story County. The boys had no
objections to Wise personally, but in a spirit of resentment, at the last mo-
ment ]>ul u]) Jennings as a protest against tlie farce of fixing up a slate in
advance and forcing it through.

George W. Crossley of Nevada was ajipointed first sergeant; John H.
Smith, Boonsboro, second sergeant; Jesse R. Wood, Iowa Center, third ser-
geant; Marquis A. Hills. Marshall county, fourth sergeant; and Thomas
Mulvana, Boonsboro, fifth sergeant.

May 2ist, 1861, by order of Governor Kirkwood the company was as-
signed to the Third Iowa Infantry Regiment, designated as Company "E"
and ordered into quarters at Keokuk.

From May 21st until the time of departure the members were drilled
in the first rudiments of the different movements.

May 27th the people of Nevada tendered a farewell banquet and in the
evening the boys were taken to Iowa Center in wagons, where another ban-
quet was provided the next dav.

Continuing on our journey we were royally received and entertained at
Newton and also at Pella, arriving in due time at Eddyville arid there took
the train for Keokuk arriving at our destination June ist.

June 8th, we were calle<l into line and the .\rticles of War read to us.
and it seemed that nearly all violations of the ihuies of a .soldier ended in
punishment by death or any other penalty a court martial might see fit to in-
flict. The effect was so depressing that six of the boys scooted out the back
door and were never afterward heard of in connection with the company.
The ninety-five officers and men remaining were then duly mustered into
the United States service.

ki<:llogg strkkt. amks

AMKS ( I TV 1'.\|;K

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 205

In August following seven other good fellows were mustered into the
company restoring the enrollment to the maximum of 102 including officers
and men.

N. G. Williams of Delaware County was made colonel of the regiment.
June 26th Capt. Scott was commissioned as Lt. Colonel and Capt. W. M.
Stone, Company B, afterwards governor, was commissioned as major.
Dr. Tom O. Edwards of Dubuque, an antiquated relic of better days, was
made surgeon.

Shortly thereafter Sergeant Crossley, by popular vote of the boys, was
elected ist lieutenant over 2nd Lieutenant Wise, in place of McCall pro-
moted to captain. Billy Wise, as we called him, was an efficient officer and
one of the kindest and best of men; but the boys preferred Crossley because
he had always looked out for them, had more snap in his makeup and was
not afraid to speak out in meeting. Wise felt hurt over the action of the
boys but remained in the service until the spring following, when he was
compelled to resign on account of failing health.

July 1st the regiment left Keokuk on two ferry boats, went to Hannibal
and was spread out along the line of the Hannibal and St. Joe rail-
road, principally guarding bridges, the first station for Company E be-
ing Utica and Chillicothe guarding the Grand river bridge. The duties
in Missouri were arduous and trying to the health of the boys ; the
malaria arising along the streams saturating their systems, a great many
of the boys became sick and unable for duty. Out of the 102 constituting
the company in August 1861, 14 died of disease during the four years ser-
vice, and 12 of these died during the first year. Henry H. Halley from
Nevada was the first to pass away. He was taken with typhoid fever at
Brookfield, Missouri and sent to the hospital. A few days later he returned
to camp during the absence of the principal part of the company on the
Kirksville trip. He reported on the sick list the following morning, but old
Doc Edwards decided he was not sick at all, called a sergeant and ordered
him to take Halley and put him at work digging a sink. He worked for
several hours in the hot sun and was finally sent to his tent and died in a few
hours. This is related merely as an instance to indicate that the soldier of
1861 had to contend sometimes with some things more disastrous than the
enemy in front. The others dying of disease the first year were in the order
following :

Sept. i8th, 1861, Martin V. Walker of Boone County.

Oct. i8th, 1861, Jasper H. Park of Jasper County.

Nov. 17th, 1861. James Mitchell of Boone County.

Nov. 23rd, 1861, William G. Spurrier of Boone county.

Dec. loth, 1861, Nicholas Beadley of Missouri.

Dec. 15th, 1861, Elisha B. Craig of Story County.

Dec. nth, 1861, William B. Taylor of Story County.

Jan. nth, 1862, Geo. W. Grove of Story County.

Jan. 31st, 1862, Asa Walker of Story County.

.206 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

Apr. 2 1 St. 1862, Daniel Hill of Hamilton county.
June 22n(l. 1862, Lewis M. Xinccnt of Story County.
Subsequently dying of disease was Xatlianiel lennings. August 26tli,
1862.

Thomas .M. Davis who, jjhysically, was the strongest man in the com-
pany was cai)turetl I'ch. jjtli. 1S64. while on tlie Meridian E.xpedition. and
died in Andersonville June 30lh. 1804.

David 11. Dill of -Vevada was killed in battle of I'-luc -Mill-, .^ept. ijih,
1861.

John H. .Smith, Thomas Mulvana. John M. .Skift'. John J. Cottle. James
11. liwing and John L. Woods all splendid men lost their lives at the battle
of Shiloh. .April 6th, 1862.

William R. Wliite. killed at the battle of Metamora. Oct. 5th. 1862.
David \ . (iilmore. Coe Chambers and Thomas Dent lost their lives at
the assault on Jackson, July 12th, 1863,

Obed R. Ward wounded and cajnurcd at .Atlanta. Jidy 22nd, 1862. and
died of wounds in .Andersonville.

The following were so severely wounded in various battles as to be-
come inca])acitated from further service and were subsequently discharged
on account of wounds, viz: Thomas D. Casebolt, Benjamin F. Denton.
Michael D. Deal, Samuel T. Jones, Isaiah N. Johnson, Samuel Marsh.
David C. Ross, and John U. .Schoonover, all being permanently disabled.
Twenty-five others were wounded more or less seriously.
Fourteen were captured during the time of service.

I'ifteen became incajjacitated from service by disease contracted in ser-
vice and were discharged because of such disability.

Recapitulation.

Died in battle 12

Died in prison i

Died of disease 14

Severely wounded and discharged 8

Other wounded 25

Discharged by reason of sickness 15

Captured 14

Total casualties 89

Deduct for those reported more than once 10

Net individual casualties 79

— leaving the whole number who escaped being reported upon the casu.iltv
list 23, among whom were some of the most faithful and daring soldiers of
the c(jmi)any.

.A case in |)()int is that of John illake who enlisted with the Xewton
.squad. He was one among the youngest boys in the com|)any. always bold,
aggressive and active. One night near the close of the siege at X'icksburg
the 33rd Wisconsin in advancing the lines had a man kille<l within about

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 207

forty yards of the rebel works and about the same distance in front of the
new Hne of rifle pits they then established. Before daylight the next morn-
ing the 3rd Iowa relieved the Wisconsin regiment and occupied the new line.
About noon Lieutenant Colonel Lovell of the 33rd came up and pointed to
the dead soldier of his regiment saying that the soldier had when killed
a Martin-Henry rifle worth $65 and he would give that to any man who
would go out and bring in the soldier and the gun. Johnny Blake at once
spoke up saying, "Here's your man," and at once dropped his giun and
accouterments, leaped out of the pit and started in a cool and regular walk
towards the body. The rebels not over one hundred yards distance fired
scores of shots at him but he moved quietly forward looking neither to the
right or left apparently unconcerned as to the surroundings. He reached
the point, shouldered the body, picked up the rifle and started back ; the
tirmg at once ceased and gave way to shouts of applause from the rebel
trenches in which his comrades joined with a vim. Johnny served through
the war upon all occasions oblivious to danger, without receiving a scratch
and was still living at last accounts, active and energetic as of old, though
his energy may not always have been rightly directed.

The individual instances of true bravery and heroism exhibited by
members of Company E are too numerous to mention in an article of this
kind and for fear of implied injustice to some, none will be named.

The two hundred and more men of the 3d Iowa who occupied the very
ground where the dead soldier lay the whole of the night following without
protection under a continuous fire of musketry from the rebel trenches at
close range, not being permitted to reply for fear of revealing position,
and the same men who two weeks later went forward at the word of com-
mand into the jaws of death at Jackson, every man fully appreciating the
situation, knowing that some one had blundered and the sacrifice would
be useless, yet as the rebels afterwards, reported as steady as on parade,
though leaving more than half their number dead and wounded on the
field, and many other collective instances that might be mentioned, are
of that true bravery and heroism which go to make up the invincible soldier
and individual mention of those who took part would be superfluous.

Lieutenant Anthony Burton commanding the 5th Ohio Battery at the
siege of Vicksburg in his private dairy says : "In the first brigade, where
all regiments are so good, it is difficult to discriminate, but I am free to
say that for courage, coolness under fire and persistency in action the 3d
Iowa cannot be surpassed and we always feel safe when that regiment is
on guard."

The history of the company is the history of the regiment and nothing
more can be claimed for it than for the other nine.

THE THIRD K)W.\'s FL.XG.

One of the most interesting incidents in connection with the Third Iowa
pertained to the capture of its regimental flag when the regiment was

208 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

flanked and cut to pieces in the battle of Atlanta on July 22, 1864, and
to its return some twenty years later by the southern woman into whose pos-
session it had come as a tribute of rebel gallantry. The regimental ban-
ner was also taken at the same time, but the members of the regiment
who had become prisoners in the hands of the rebels managed through
some fortunate circumstance to get possession of the banner and they tore
it into bits, and distributed the pieces among their number. As to the
flag, however, there was a much longer stor)\ The rebel general in im-
mediate command at its capture was Pat Cleburn, a very dashing young
Englishman, who had served in the Crimea and in India, and who had
come to this country and had cast his fortune in with the confederates. He
became one of the most ])opular cavalry commanders on tlial side and it is
apparent froni the subsequent story that he much admired one of the
southern belles of that period. What this admiration might have led to,
in the way of romance, we can only guess, for Cleburn was killed three
months later in front of another Iowa regiment at the battle of Franklin.

But the story of the flag is that it was given by Pat Cleburn to this
lady of his acquaintance and was by her. then or afterwards most care-
fully laid away and forgotten.

The lady nearly twenty years later came across the flag and thereupon
opened a correspondence which resulted in its return to the survivors of the
regiment. The staflf upon which it had fonnerly been set was not preserved,
and the flag after being repaired with all possible care was attached to a
pine stick; and so attached it now hangs with the other battle flags of
the Iowa regiments in the hermetically sealed recesses about the rotunda
of Iowa's state capitol. It was said during tlie reunion at Nevada in 190^.
that the last man of the Third Iowa who bore the flag into the battle of
Atlanta was found dead after the battle, pierced by seventeen bullets. Since
after this battle there were twenty-three survivors of the regiment report-
ing for duty, no further e.xplanation is needed for the capture of the flag,
and banner. The story of the return of the flag was told in the Iowa State
Register with much a])preciation at the time it happened ; and this story is
given below, taken from the scrap book of Third Regiment memorabilia
kei)t by Mrs. (ieo. W. Crossley of Webster City. Tlie story follows:

"As we write these lines our eyes wander to the table at our side on
which lies an old battle-scarred flag, one that until now, has not been seen
by the light of an Iowa sun, nor the shreds of stars and stri()cs been stirred
by an Iowa breeze, since it went with the brave boys of the Third Iowa
regiment. For twenty years this flag — whose tattered stripes we finger
as we write — has lain in the cedar chest of a Confederate woman, given
her in her youth the day after it was captured by the gallant General Pat
Cleburne, as a relic of the war — such a troijhy as any soldier might feel
proud to lay at his lady's feet. It has a strange and romantic history —
this long lost flag — in the way it has come at last to those who fought
under its colors, and (ieneral .\lexander has given us the pleasure of tell-

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 209

ing the Third Iowa Regiment and the soldiers all through the state of its
being sent a few days ago by this southern lady to those who lost it.

"The lady's name is Mrs. Laura J. Pickett of St. Louis, and she writes
of the flag, its presentation to her and its accidental discovery the other
day. through her brother, H. F. Massengale. We cannot do better than
to give the letters in full. The first one is dated July 28, 1883.

" 'To tin: Adjutant Getn^ral, State of louv, Dcs Moines.

De.'\r Sir : In overhauling some old articles a few days ago we dis-
covered an old battle-scarred flag of the Third Iowa, captured by General
Pat Cleburne before Atlanta, Georgia, and by him given to my sister, who
was then living in Georgia. It was folded, put away as a relic of the war,
and forgotten until resurrected a few days ago. If the Third Iowa still
exists and would like to have this flag that plainly shows how gallantly
its bearers carried it, my sister will be glad to send it to the regiment.

Yours very respectfully,

H. F. Massengale.'

"General Alexander wrote at once in his courteous and handsome man-
ner, asking to have the flag sent to him and saying that he would see that
it was given a place among the other old war flags in the state arsenal, and
that it should gladden the eyes of the regiment, which will hold their bien-
nial reunion at Cedar Falls, September 21.

"A second letter came in response, as follows :

" 'General Alexander.

De.\r Sir: Your favor is at hand, and I send you today by the United
States express, the flag.

" 'This flag was captured about the 24th of July, 1864, near Atlanta.
I was at the time a major of cavalry and on the staff of General Joseph
E. Johnston, where I remained until I was surrendered by him in North
Carolina. When General Johnston was relieved of the command of the
army I remained with him and had nothing to do with the engagement that
this flag figured in, as General Hood was in command. My sister, now
Mrs. Laura J. Pickett, then Miss Laura J. Massengale, was living near
Columbus, Georgia, on my father's plantation and was on a visit to my
family, whom I had quartered temporarily near Atlanta. General Pat
Cleburne was a very warm friend of our family and particularly so of my
sister Laura. He took this flag during the engagement referred to, and
presented it to her the next day as a relic of the war. She put it away
in a cedar chest and lost sight of it until a few days ago, when she acci-
dentally discovered it. I regret it was not found long ago; for it would
then have been returned promptly to its proper owners. My sister has
written to two or three friends who were officers in the same engagement,
and if any new facts can be had we will send them to you.

Yours truly,

H. F. Massengale.'

210 HISTURV OF STORY COUNTY

"It will be a dull reader indeed who does not see the romance written
l>etween the lines of these letters and which hangs like a lialo around the
old flag. Xo arm tliat fought that brave and handsome general Init would
be proud to lift the hat to the girl whom he honored with its colors, and
no heart grew desperate in the tight that will not warm towards her who
gives back after so many years what must be precious as presented by one
who was a martyr in the cause she held to be right.

"We must tell them — as a foretaste — something of how the flag looks,
tliat tliev saw last go dou n in the din and smoke of battle under the Georgian
sky. It is about half left, the end with the stars remaining. It has the full
number of stripes, and on these are inscribed the names of the battles in
which it floated, excepting of course, the last one, in which it was taken.
The upper corner of the stars next to the stripes is gone; but the rest of
the blue is in a fair condition, considering its age. On the fir.st light stripe
is "I'LUE .M' — the rest of the 'Mills' is gone. On the second light stripe is
"S." then a hole made by a bomb-shell, and 'LO' hangs in the tatters at the
edge, which proves that Shiloh shared its bloody field with the Third Iowa.
Then the "SIECiE OF C" — and we know that is Corinth. In the central
(lark stripe, or the seventh from top and bottom, as is usual, is the name
of the regiment— 'THIRD REGIMENT OF lO— the O about half com-
plete. How happy General Alexander seemed as he pointed this out to us,
saying if the shot or shell had rent it half an inch closer, so that the O
could not be distinguished, we could not have been sure whether it he-
longed to Iowa or Indiana. 'M.ATAMORA' is half there on the eighth
stripe, and 'Siege of \TCK' tells of X'icksburg. The last battle before it
fell was 'JACKSON,' the last two letters only gone. The yellow fringe
that Imrdered the top and bottom remains for about a yard ; and as we
louclicd the liiwer fringe, some mud from the battlefield near .\tlanta
crumbled cilT in nur hand' — tlic in--cripti<in tliat wa- nut written on its
folds.

"Company A was gathered in Dubuque, and ex-Governor Stone was
captain of Company 15. of Knoxville. Company C came from Clayton
County, Com])any D from Winnesheik, Comjiany i". from Story, Company
F from I'ayette, Company G fmm Warren, Comi^anx 11 from Mahaska.
Company 1 from Butler, and Company K from I'.lack Hawk. The
■Register' extcn<ls its warmest congratulation> and can easily imagine the
eyes that will ntoisten as they see these shreds of silk, and the memories
that will stir the hearts that know how the inscriptions were won. The
sight will come as a glad surprise to eyes that never hoped to see their flag
again, and without doubt more than one soldier will feel as one of whom
General .Mexander told us, who as he stood in the arsenal underneath the
tattered flag, luider which he had fought in every battle, said: "General,
I'd give ten dollars for a single thread of that flag." Surely the southern
ladv who has thus reached her hand after these many years, to these Iowa
soldiers will be gratilH-d .ii the honor the Third low.i will do the Confederate

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 211

general, who so fearlessly captured their colors, and who through her has
given them back, a thousand times more precious for every rent and tear."

THE SHILOH MONUMENT.

Some forty years after the war, a commission of whom Senator Fitch-
patrick was one, was appointed by the governor of Iowa to locate definitely
for permanent marking the positions which the several Iowa regiments
had occupied in the various battlefields of the war. Monuments were
erected in accordance with such determinations and later an official excur-
sion headed by the governor was made to the South for the purpose of
dedicating these monuments and commemorating the events by them sug-
gested. There were monuments to dedicate at Chattanooga, \'icksburg,
Atlanta, Andersonville, and everywhere that there was a national park
upon a battlefield or former prison pen. But somehow, for the Third Iowa,
the strongest interest seemed to pertain to the dedication of the Third
Iowa monument at Shiloh. The Third was one of eleven Iowa regiments
in that battle and its monument happened to be the last to be reached by
the dedicatory party. On this occasion, the part played by the Third Iowa
in the battle of Shiloh, was authoritatively stated, thus :

"Comrades : — The Third Iowa Infantry landed here about March 20,
1862, and went into camp about one-half mile north of this monument. It
was a part of the First Brigade, Hurlbut's 4th Division and went into action
Sunday morning April 6, 1862, on the south side of the field; but in order
to get in alignment with the other troops soon fell back to this line, leaving
the open field in our front. We maintained this position for about five
hours, repelling frequent assaults, with terrific slaughter of the enemy
and considerable loss to ourselves.

"According to the official reports of the eight regiments of Confeder-
ates suiifering the greatest loss in the battle of Shiloh the losses of .si.x
of them occurred in this immediate front, and the loss in killed and wounded
in our brigade here posted was the greatest of any brigade on the Federal
side of the entire army engaged on the field of Shiloh.

"About two o'clock in the afternoon, by reason of the turning of the
left flank of our division, we fell back 200 yards and there maintained
our position for one hour more, and then for like reasons we retired to
Wicker field 200 yards farther and remained there until four o'clock. Then
both flanks having given way the regiment retired fighting all the way
to its camp and there finding themselves nearly surrounded and ignoring
the order of Major Stone to surrender, broke through the ranks of the
enemy, and all except thirty who were afterwards captured, succeeded in
joining the command of Colonel Crocker about one-half mile from the
landing, remaining in line all night.

212 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

"On Monday the survivors were in action under Lieutenant Crossley,
he being the senior officer present for duty, and charged and captured a
battery near Jones field.

"On Sunday there were about 500 in hne and the losses were 23 killed
in action, 17 mortally wounded who shortly afterwards died of wounds,
117 others wounded, most of them seriously, and 30, including Major Stone,
captured. Monday 250 were in line and no losses occurred.

"The total loss of the regiment during tlie war was 127 killed and died of
wounds, 122 died of disease, 321 wounded, and 227 discharged for dis-
abilities contracted in the service making a total of 798 casualties out of
a total enrollment of 1099.

"On the whole we claim for the Third Iowa a record made upon the
field of Shiloli as honorable and effective as that of any other organization
here engaged. We make no claim not substantiatecl by the official reports
of the great battle, and with that the survivors are content."

THE TRIHUL.ATION.S OF C.APT.MN MCl".\l,I..

A little sidelight on the experiences of Company E is afforded by a
letter of Capt. Samuel H. McCall. which was written by him in 1864 to
Alajor Crossley, and by acciileiit resurrected forty years later. Capt.
McCall, it will be remembered had been the county judge of Boone County,
who, in 1853, ])resided over the first organization of Story County, divid-
ing this county into its first two t(nvnshi])s and canvassing the returns of
its first county election. Before that, he had been in the Mexican war,
later in the fifties, he was representative for Boone. Story and other
counties in the general asseml)Iy. When the war broke out he was elected
captain of the company which it was first attempted to organize in Boone
County, but as it became necessary to consolidate the Boone and Story
companies, he brought his squad over to Nevada and the company was
organized with State Senator John Scott as captain, and McCall as first
lieutenant; but upon the organization of tlie regiment. Captain Scott was
made lieutenant-colonel, and Lieutenant McCall was promoted to be cap-
tain, which position he held through the three year term of the com-
pany's enlistment, in tlic spring of 1864, however, part of the men re-
enlistcfl, with the effect that the company was divided. Captain McCall
remained with the majority that had not reenlisted. and at the time of his
writing their term of enlistment had expired; but the government was
dilatory about actually mustering them out. Xcither was it making any
practical use of them; and as a natural conso(iuence the situation grcsV
monotonous, and the bluff soul of the cajitain was moved to pour itself out
to his brother officer. To have pul)lished such a letter at the time it was
written would not have done at all; but after a lapse of years it possesses
a humor that is not to be lost. The letter follows:

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 213

Chattanooga, Tenn.
June 7, A. D. 1864.
Maj. G. IV. Crossley.

Dear Sir: In looking over some letters that were in charge of Johnny
Blake, I find the accompanying are for you ; so I conclude to send to you,
as it may be important.

Here I am with the meanest set of men in the Iowa 3d (a few ex-
ceptions of course). I can do nothing with them. The authorities here
will not let us go to the front ; neither will they give us transportation
North, until they hear from a mustering officer expected from the front.
Meantime I have the men (55 in number) bivouacked one mile south of
the main town. Last night they stole from one and the other and got
up a pretty muss. Since we arrived here they have stolen my blankets, my

handkerchiefs, towels, and nearly every d thing I had. You may

think this a joke, but I can't see it. A fellow like me, at a strange military
post, destitute of blankets, towels, handkerchiefs, money and everything

necessary for convenience, comfort, O, My G — , I never was in such a

pickle before; and when it will end and how it is going to end is just now
very much of a mystery to me. O, how I wish I had marched with the
column from Huntsville !

I suppose Capt. Swank has found you before this. He left here on the
5th. I look for him back tomorrow. When I can get him to take charge
of these men, I will go to the front, if I cannot get mustered out here. If
I can be mustered out, however, I shall start for Iowa in a jiffy. There
is no commissary of musters except one for Gen. Thomas' Dept., and he
will have nothing to do with us. I have reported to Capt. Monroe charge
of Gen. McPherson's Hd. Qs. here, who tells me to wait from day to
day and he will let me know the next. So* I keep waiting. I hope to
know something definite by tomorrow evening.

Swank has given you all the news from this place ; so I will mention
nothing. I don't wish you to infer from anything I have said above that
I am impatient, peevish, dissatisfied or tired of my detachment. O, no, no,
I am well satisfied (over the left.)

Please ask Col. Brown to send me the receipts for the ordnance I
turned over at Huntsville. I gave him invoices and he was to hand them
to Sleiter, as the officer put in command of the veterans of Co. E, and get
receipts for me.

I wish you would forward me all my mail matter as it comes in, i. e.,
if I have to stay at this place long — I will advise you if I stay.

This has been a beautiful town one day; but the ravages of war are
more conspicuous here than at any place I have visited since the war began.
Vicksburg not excepted. I was on Lookout Mountain a few days ago. The
scene was grand beyond my power of description, were I to try. I hope
you will ascend it, should you ever come this way.

214 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

Excuse me, I did not intend to write you a letter when I began writing,
only to let you know that 1 am here. I will write you at length as soon
as I get lime. 1 iiave been sick for two tlays with chol. morbus, or some
such disease. I hope this will find you in good health and spirits. (Mve
my respects to all the rest. Respectfully yours,

S. B. McCall.

The story of thi> letter .scems to i)e that Crossley thought it funny
and gave it to Col. .\aron IJrowii who had become commander of the regi-
ment. Brown tiled it with his jjapers where it remained until after his
death. Then his e.xecutor hapi)ened to be J. I'. Patrick who was another
Third Iowa man and who found the letter and pa>sed it around among
the other Third Iowa survivors. Col. Crossley 's comment on the letter;
thus revived was as follows:

-Mv Dk.\r Old Friend and Co.mkadk — 1 dcin't know when I have en-
joyed a more hearty laugh than I did after reading the letter written by
Capt. McCall to me over forty years ago. Its date — June ". 1864 — was but
one day short of the e.Kpiration of our original three years' enlistment, as
we were mustered into the U. S. service June 8, 1861. I must have handed
the letter to Col. I'.rown to read and he neglected to return it to me. We
were then at Kingston, Georgia. l!rown did not go with us to Chattanooga,
and we were probably just getting ready to start when this letter came.
Poor Capt. McCall — what a desperate situation he was in; but he lived
through it. and at this distance from the trials and tribulations he en-
dured, he would probably laugh as heartily over this old letter as I di<l
yesterday, i can't see that the publication of the old letter at this time will
do any liarm to Capt. McCall or any one else, particularly if you explain
the situation as to the status of the detachment of the y\ Iowa then under
the command of the good old ca]>tain. and his proverl)ial kindness of heart.
Those boys were impatiently wailing tn he mustered out and the delay and
uncertainty attending tiieir situation tlurc was |)rett\ well calculated to
make them a difficult set of men to li;millc. .\ lictlcr dixiplin.Trian wouM
not have envied the captain his jol).

Weill Weill What a flood of memories this old letter lias started. Tiio
old regiment wa> sadly reduced in mnubers then, even including the nnn-
veterans who were about to' lie mustered out; and a little later after an-
other desperate conflict with the enemy, the lillle handful of men, all that
was left of that once s|ileiidid regiment, were consolidated with another
Command and the 3d Iowa Infantry had passed out of existence. It i>
a pniud and hapi)y memory, my old conu'ade, for you an<l I. and the few
remaining survivors to have belonged to a regiment with such a record
of service. The records of its service are written in imperishable bronze
upon the tablet imbe<lded in the granite luonument at Shiloh. .\ little later
another tablet ujinn another si)lendid monument will relate the record of
its service at \'ick-bini,'. but in the heart> of the loyal sons and daughters

HISTORY OF STORY COUx\TY 215

of Iowa and their descendants will live the name and fame of that glorious
old regiment — second to none in the splendid galaxy of our country's de-
fenders. Sincerely yours,

G. W. Crossley.

All of which might recall to mind numerous incidents of Capt. S. B.
McCall. He never lived in Story County, but he probably had more to do
with the county at one time or another than had any other non-resident.
Out of many incidents, one may be made to serve as illustrative of his tender-
heartedness, it being told apropos to the panic of 1857. He was then in
business and went down in the crash along with the most of the men who
were then so engaged in this section, where all the money that was brought
into the country went to the government for land and where there was
really no market for anything that the people could raise. In this troublous
time he started out to raise money and after a good part of a day's drive
had succeeded in collecting five dollars, when he came to a house where there
was a woman at home with a family of small children. She said that they
would pay as soon as they could, but — breaking into tears — that they had no
money and were out of provisions and hungry besides. The captain could
not stand it. He gave the woman the five dollars he had collected and went
on home and quit trying to collect. The story doubtless illustrates the times
as well as the man ; for in those days people understood what distress really
meant, and in moments of emergency they stood by one another. Captain
-McCall remained in Boone County for quite a number of years after the
war but in time drifted to California and at last reports he was still living
at the National soldiers' home at Santa Monica.

THIRD IOWA REUNION'.

As has been before noted, there have been two reunions of the Third
Iowa regiment that are a part of the history of Story County. They were
held at Nevada in 1885 and in 1906. At the former reunion recollection
has it that there were present one hundred and twenty of the veterans,
many of them accompanied by their wives and other members of their
families. At the latter reuninn there were present thirty-si.x, with several
of their wives and a few others. At this reunion Col. Crossley presitled,
the headquarters were at the office of J. .A. Fitchpatrick and Major John
I". Lacey was the principal speaker. Those who registered themselves as
present at this revmion with their companies and present addresses were
the following:

W. C. White and wife. Company E, Fortville, Ind.

B. F. Keebles and wife. Major (Surgeon), Pella.

Silas Coryell and wife, Company G, Indianola.

Jesse Bowen, Company E, Maxwell.

Chas. Boehmler, and wife. Company K, ("Lt.), Cedar Falls.

216 HISTORY Ol' STORY COUNTY

Geo. Philpott. wife and daughter. Company K. Cedar Falls.

Austin Leve^^L■e and wife, Company K. Cedar Falls.

Geo. Tuthill ami wife. Company K, Cedar Falls.

Jacob Hoehmler and wife, Company K, Cedar Fall's.

John Dignan, Company K, Waterloo.

John F. Trautner and daughter. Company K, Charles City.

James C. Livingston and grandson, Company E, Newton.

G. W. Crossley and wife. Company E, Major and Brevt. Col., Webster
City.

Jos. Antwine. Company F. .Arlington.

J. J. Earle. Company F, West Union.

J. G. Huflfman, Company G, Indianola.

J. D. Dooley and wife. Company F. Hawkeye.

C. 11. Talmadge. Company I, West Union.

G. H. Pulver and wife, Company K, \'illisca.

Joseph M. Patrick, Company E. Bedford.

Elijah Wise, wife and daughter. Company D, Carls Junction, Mo.

T. S. Bailey, Company A, Cedar Rapids.

J. A. Fitchpatrick. Company E, Nevada.

N. -M. Walcott and wife. Company K, Belmond.

Chas. W. Babcock and wife. Company A, Pomona, Mich.

Isaac Boomhower and wife. Company I, La Porte City.

B. ^L Titus and wife. Company I, Osage.

Guilf Mullen, Company E. Plankington, S. D.

M. A. llillis and wife. Company E, Des Moines, 509 Clark street.

T. I'.. Walley, Company L Vinton.

J. L. Crawford and wife, Company H. Des Moines, 1030 Nineteenth
street.

J. P. Patrick, Company F, Des Moines, 1705 Pleasant street.

Mary S. Scott, widow of Col. Scott, Des Moines, 2906 Cottage ave.

George Jones, Company E, Story County.

Aaron Smith and wife, Company B, Newton.

E. F. Sperry, Company B, Des Moines.

John V. I.acey, Company II, Oskaloosa.

CHAPTER XXI.
SECOND IOWA CAVALRY.

Harry H. Boyes, veteran of the First Iowa Infantry and of the Second
Iowa Cavalry, has furnished at the earnest solicitation of the editor, the
following sketch of the company and regiment in which he won his com-
mission :

Company B of the Second Iowa Cavalry was organized by volunteers
from Marshall and Story Counties in August, 1861, this organization being
effected at Marshalltown. William P. Hepburn was elected captain, Paul
A. Queal of Story County first lieutenant and Thomas Wilson second lieu-
tenant.

The Second Cavalry was mustered into service at Davenport, Iowa,
August 25, 1861. Washington L. Elliott, captain in the 3d U. S. Cavalry,
was commissioned as colonel. The regiment left for St. Louis December
7, 1861. The accommodations there were poor, the barracks cold, and the
weather severe, so that, although our stay there was for about sixty days
our death list from sickness, numbered over that number. At St. Louis
we drew horses and equipment and did much hard drilling. On the 17th
of February we took steamer for down river, landing at Bird's Point, Mo.,
opposite to the city of Cairo, 111. Here we were soon busy chasing rebel
bands through the overflowed swamp, around Charleston and Sykeston,
finally bringing up at Xew Madrid in time to witness the reduction of that
place by General Pope's forces. On the reduction of that place, a part
of the regiment was passed over to the east side of the river and at
Hickman were first in the works, capturing two steamers and destroy-
ing many tons of ordnance stores.

On April 12th, we went on board a fleet and went down the river to
secure a landing and capture Fort Pillow, but the water was too high
to land and the fleet, with Pope's Corps steamed up river, until after many
days we landed at Hamburg on the Tennessee, four miles above Pittsburg
Landing. Here we joined the left wing of Halleck's army for the capture
of Corinth, the cavalry forming the extreme left. The cavalry were here
used to the limit, scouting, reconnoitering between the lines and doing picket
and guard duty, giving no rest. On April 27th, stirring up a masked bat-
ter}'. Company B lost its first man killed. On the 28th we tore up the

217

218 illSTuRV OF STORY COUNTY

Memphis and Charleston Railroad, burning several bridges. On the 8th
of May, we lost another killed from Company U in a raid to east of Corinth.

On May Qth the regiment was called to the assistance of General
Paine, who commanded a division of Pope's Corps, and who had been
reconnoitering a little too far out. and was likely to have difficulty in get-
ting back again. Here we formed lino and were ordered to draw sabre
and get ready for business. To the front on a hill were twenty-four pieces
of artiller}- pouring shells, grape and canister into our ranks.

The order came to advance, then trot, and then the bugle sounded the
charge. The charge was made, the guns silenced. Paine got back across
the bridge; but the 2(1 Iowa Cavalry, had fully one-half of its number
killed, wounded or missing. Hepburn had been promoted to major, and
Queal to ca])tain, and in this action Oueal rode his big black hor.se as coollv
as though on dress parade, but his horse was badly wounded. .-\t midnight
May 28tb, we started on a raid to Boonville, south of Corinth, and at day-
light of the 30tb, charged the town, capturing 3.000 convalescents, a train
of cars, 10,000 stand of arms and two pieces of artillery, a large amount
of ammunition. These stores were burned, and track torn u]) and bridges
fired. In this raid we had some sharp skirmishing, but got back to camp
on May 30th. Col. Elliott was promoted to brigadier-general.

On June 2d, the company had a sharp engagement at Blackland and
soon after went into camp at I'armington for needed rest. June 26th. the
regiment was again ordered to the front and with the 2d Michigan Cavalry,
formed an outpost at Poonville. eight miles in advance of the infantry;
Col. Phil Sheridan in command. On July ist, the enemy, 4,000 strong,
attacked this post, consisting of but 800 men in all. The enemy charged,
time and again, but were as often driven back. Companies P) and F, with
two companies of the 2d Michigan, charged the enemy in the rear and
wrought sad havoc among them, but it cost Comiiany 15 severely in killed,
wdunded and missing. Of the .^tory County Ixiys. Cal See was captured
and ( leorge Boyes severely wounded; shoi through the kidneys. Of forty
men who went into action, but half the number showed u]) at roll call the
ne.xt morning. This action made Phil Sheridan a brigadier-general, and
Alger a colonel. On the 20th of .August, the enemy, 2,300 strong, charged
our camp at Kienzi, but were met with such a warm welcome that they
were soon driven back with a loss of sixteen. On the i6th of September,
commenced our fall campaign. This led us to the rear of the enemy ad-
vancing on luka. .At Payton's Mills, we met and defeated b'aulkner with
2.500 cavalry ; and later in the day, cajitured a large herd of beef cattle,
intendeil for the rebel army. The regiment came up in time to take part
in the battle of luka. but Price evacuated the place during the night.

The next engagement that Company B was in, was at the battle of
Corinth, where the comjiany was detailed as orderlies to carry dispatches
on the battlefield ; this brought us constantly under fire for the day, and

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 219

after the defeat of the enemy we were carrying dispatches between Corinth
and our pursuing forces.

After Corinth, we were scouting and skirmishing over northern Mis-
sissippi, until Grant commenced his advance south from Grand Junction,
when the regiment took the advance. We drove the enemy through Holly
Spring to the Tallahatchie, taking their fortifications with one cannon.
Sharp skirmishing all the way to Spring Dale, and on to Water \^alley, and
Coffeeville, where the rebels were met in full force with cavalry, infantry
and artillery. Here Companies B, D, F and I saved our artillery against a
desperate charge of a heavy infantry force. The loss of tlie 2d Iowa
Cavalry in this engagement was twenty-two.

The regiment moved out from the main column December 14th, going
southeast, striking the Mobile and Ohio Railroad at Tupelo, Mississippi.
At Comargo Station the railroad was thoroughly wrecked : then charging
into Okolona where we burned 10,000 bushels of corn, a large amount of
commissary stores, and captured 30 prisoners, when we returned to the
main column at Pontotoc. Here we learned that \ an Dorn with 10,000
cavalry had just passed on the way to Grant's base of supplies at Holly
Springs. Although our force was much inferior to the enemy. Gen. Hatch
wanted to pursue and bring on an action to delay them but was overruled
by General Dickey ; and \'an Dorn went on his way and burned the sup-
plies, and as a consequence, Grant was obliged to abandon the campaign
against \'icksburg.

On December 21st, the brigade was again on the move, reached Coffee-
ville the next day and commenced the destruction of the Mississippi Central
Railroad. We made a complete wreck of it back to the Tallahatchie river.
On the 2Sth we started for Okena to intercept \'an Dorn, but were not
successful, so returned to camp, which was reached on the 28th. We
were in much need of rest as our marches for the last thirty-one days had
averaged forty-one and a half miles a day. We went into winter quarters
at La Grange, Tenn.

On March 10, 1863, the 2d Iowa Cavalry started out on its spring
campaign. The command reached the Tallahatchie river on the nth,
burned the bridge and destroyed a lot of lead. Stopped for the night south
of Holly Spring, having been in the saddle thirty-si.x hours, but learning
that an ambush had been prepared for our capture, and the colonel not
deeming it advisable to engage the enemy, as we had no ambulance, we
were ordered to saddle u]) and with a citizen, as guide, and by marching
all night and all next day we reached camp, having been in the saddle al-
most constantly for three days and three nights.

During the month of March the regiment marched 350 miles, capturing
some prisoners and many horses.

On April i6th Colonel Hatch prepared to march down through central
Mississippi to the rear of Vicksburg to cut the communications of the rebel
army there. The midnight train brought Col. Ij. H. Grierson of the 6th

220 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

Illinois, ranking colonel, who took command. We moved out at 3 o'clock
in the morning of the 17th. The line of march led down towards Colum-
bus, and at the junction of the roads leading to West Point, the command
was divided. Col. Grierson with the 6th and 7th Illinois Cavalry, and
three two-pound cannon going south ; and the 2d Iowa, about 500 men
moved toward Columbus. The 2d Iowa moved to Palo Alto, halted and fed.
The enemy were massed in our rear with cavalry, artillery and infantry,
with the intention of capturing our small command at the crossing of the
Hooka river. The 2d Iowa had succeeded in decoying the enemy from
the pursuit of Grierson. who was well on his way and who eventually
reached Baton Rouge.

The -2(1 Iowa Cavalry had a sharp engagement at Palo Alto, defeating
the enemy, crossed the Tijjpah river in the dark by swimming the horses
and carrying tlie saddles and cannon over a frail bridge made of drift
wood. The next evening we charged into Okolona and burned 30 barracks
filled with cotton. The next day the command gathered in 600 horses.
At l'>irniingham the rehs attacked us again, but were badly whipped in short
order.

We were soon in camp at I. a Grange. During the summer we were
almost constantly on the march through .Mississipi)i and Tennessee. Cap-
tured Jackson. Tennessee, after a hard fight on July 12th. On August
the 13th. started on a trip south and after much skirmishing and hard
marching reached (Iranada, which was captured after a hard fight. Here
were captured sixty locomotives, five hundred cars, two depots, two large
machine shops, two large steam flouring mills, ten flat cars loaded with
army wagons, two thousand sacks of flour. The destruction of all this
was thorough and complete. We were gone thirteen days, captured 100
prisoners, 500 horses and marched 400 miles while out.

This command moved out l'"ebruary nth going south. The regiment
then moved to Memphis where it was doing guard ilut\ the most of the
time until Xovember, when the regiment had a hard engagement at Colliers-
ville, east of Memphis, with a vastly superior force, defeating them ; and
again at Coldwater. in the dark, wiicn we drove tluni out of their position;
captured 50 prisoners and two brigadier-generals.

Our next campaign left Memphis Xovember 2(ith, 1863. Our force
consisted of three regiments of cavalry and eight pieces of artillery. We
struck the enemy at Saulsberry and had a skirmish with them, but they
soon withdrew. The next was at Moscow, where the fighting was severe,
and Colonel Hatch commanding was shot through the right lung, but did
not leave the field until the battle was over and the victory won. A great
cavalry force was assembled at Germantown, consisting of three brigades
under command of General Soury Smith with fourteen pieces of light ar-
tillery, the whole force numbering nearly nine thousand well mounted men.
This force moved out the iith of February, going south by easy marching,
capturing many horses and some prisoners, until near West Point, con-

NEVADA HRIi K AM) Tll.l-; WORKS

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 221

siderable fighting was done. At Prairie Station we burned a large train
of cars, and a large amount of corn and supplies. At West Point the
enemy was encountered and forced steadily back before the rifles of the
2d Iowa Cavalry, when a sabre charge was ordered, but recalled just as
the men were about to capture a large number of prisoners. Some one
had blundered.

February 21st, the small-pox had broken out in the regiment, and sev-
eral were obliged to leave the ranks for the ambulance. General Smith
ordered the retreat early that morning. The 2d Iowa covering the rear.
The enemy soon followed in force and the fighting became desperate. All
appeals for support were denied and the orders of General Smith were
"Mount the rifles and close up ;" as this was impossible the regiment, re-
gardless of orders, made a determined stand, repelling all charges, and
holding the enemy in check. A stampede beginning with the 4th regulars
and 2d New Jersey Cavalry, soon spread through the ist and 3d brigades,
leaving our brigade to cover the rear. The fighting was desperate all
along the line, charge was met with charge, cannon were taken, and retaken,
until darkness ended the fray.

The Historian says: "Among those who distinguished themselves for
coolness and bravery, while the 2d Iowa was engaged in this fight, should
stand prominent the name of Paul A. Queal, captain of Company B, com-
manding the second battalion." The 2d Iowa left fifty brave fellows on
this field, which was more than we ever before lost in one day. This affair
was the most disastrous and disgraceful we had ever participated in, all
owing to the incompetence of the commanding General Smith, who soon
after resigned, and was soon heard of as making Copperhead speeches in
Illinois. We lost in this expedition 400 men, six cannon, five caissons, 200
stand of small arms and used up 2,000 horses. We brought in 1,500 negroes,
3,000 horses and mules; we destroyed forty miles of railroad, millions of
bushels of corn, thousands of bales of C. S. A. cotton and great quantities
of stores. There was no time during this campaign but what we could
have whipped the enemy in short order if allowed to do so by the general
commanding.

The call now was made for the reinlistment of the veteran soldiers of
the armies in the field, and in response to the call, 360 of the regiment were
mustered in as veterans on March 28, 1864, at ATemphis, Tennessee.
Those who had reenlisted were granted a furlough of thirty days. On May
15th the regiment re-assembled at Davenport, reached Memphis on the
29th and were armed with Spencer seven-shooting carbines. In June, we
took the advance of General A. J. Smith's command in an expedition
against the rebel General Forrest. After much skirmishing and some hard
fighting the conflict was on at Tupello. This battle was fought principally
by the i6th Corps; the cavalry holding the flanks. Company B on the
extreme left under a searching fire of sharp shooters, for most of the first
day, and on the skirmish line the second day. Forrest was completely de-

222 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

feated. and our coinniand retiinieil to Memphis on Julv J4tli. in August
we went on an expedition down to Oxford, where we cliarged the town
under a heavy tire. Had quite a battle at Hurricane Creek, and several
quite severe engagements on this trip.

On September 30th, we left our camp at W hite's Station, near .Mem-
I)liis, on our most trying camjiaigii. Our camp equippage, tents and extra
clothing were all left behind ; nor did we see them again until December
2d at Nashville. The command moved east, crossed the Tennessee river
at Clifton, then on to confront Hood; who was crossing to the north side
of the Tennessee at Florence. We met his advance at Shoal Creek, and for
thirteen days held the ])osition against vastly superior numbers. The fight-
ing was almost constant, and on several occasions quite severe battles were
fought.

The whole of Hood's army commenced llieir achance on Nashville on
the 20th of November, 1864. Our cavalry disputing their advance and
falling back slowly. The w-eather was cold with rain almost constantly
making the roads quagmires of mud, and as the command had no tents
or shelter their saddle blankets served for a bed, and their saddles for pil-
lows. We retreated before Hood's army until we reached Lawrenceburg.
where the regiment made a stand for a day. Company B holding the jiickcl
post all day against a heavy infantry force, and under a heavy artillery tire.
The battle raged until dark when we retired.

The next day at Canipbellville we were tiercely attacked by l-'orrest. The
2d Iowa was dismounted and formed in battle line to check the advance.
The rebs cliarged the line repeatedly, were as often driven back before the
rifles of the regiment, until they out-tlanked our position and com])elled a
retreat on our part. The light raged uiiiil dark when we fell back in good
order, reached Columbia at midnigin and were inside the infantr\- lines
for the first time in a month. .\n ins])eclion of the horses in the regiment
showed that out of over 400, less than sixty were serviceable, owing to
the "grease heel, " the ctTects of the mud.

Our next engagement was at I-'ranklin on the 29th of November, where
we held the left flank during that battle. Without further fighting, we fell
back to Nashville, crossed to the north side of the Cumberland, and there
found our tents and knapsacks that we had left at W'iiite's Station in
September. The weather was extremely cold, down to 10 degrees below
zero, and no fuel to be had excejU such as we could steal at night far from
camp. Here the men suffered severely until the 12th of December, when
we crossed the river to the Nashville side and camped in an open field of
mud.

On the morning of December 15th (ieneral Thomas advanced against
Hood's entrenchments on the Brentwood hills south of Nashville. The
cavalry on the extreme right of the advancing line. On account of the deep
mud and soft condition of the land the cavalry were ordered out on foot.
They were swung far out to the right, then wheeling the line to the left.

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 223

soon struck the enemy driving in their outposts, capturing their rifle pits,
and were soon before their main entrenchments, when they met a fierce
storm of musketry and artillery fire. Tlie 2d Iowa was assigned to the
support of our batteries and ahhough we were lying flat on the ground,
the rebel shot and shell killed two and wounded one.

After enduring this for a while, the 2d Iowa was ordered up and to
charge the works in our advance. The enemy's fire was severe, but the
works were carried in one grand rush, with their artillery and 300 prisoners.
The rebs immediately opened on us with infantry and artillery from a forti-
fied redoubt, 500 yards to the right on a high pinnacle of a hill. There was
no time to reform our line, but facing the fire the regiment slowly advanced
up the hill into the ditch outside, then over the parapet, and among them,
a hand-to-hand conflict with clubbed carbines soon settled matters there and
the fort with its contents was ours; but our color bearer was killed, as he
planted our flag on the works. The cavalry at the close of the first day had
captured three of the rebel's best forts, completely turned their right flank
and at night lay down supperless on the cold wet ground for a little sleep
and rest.

On the 2d day the same tactics were adopted, striking the enemy on
their left flank, capturing several forts with much hard fighting, and when
night came they were in full retreat, the cavalry in pursuit in the darkness.
The pursuit was pressed vigorously, and the defense of the rebel rear
guard was stubborn from day to day. Below Franklin, Forrest's Cavalry
came from Murfreesboro to cover the rear of Hood's retreating army.
They made a determined stand at the Little Harpeth river, using artillery
freely. The regiment deployed to the right of the road, formed for a
charge across a muddy field then through a rail fence and up a steep rocky
hillside, and we were among them. Darkness came on and the opposing
forces became mixed, and the confusion was great ; men on both sides were
captured and recaptured ; it being almost impossible to tell friend from
foe. A desperate hand-to-hand encounter ensued for the capture of the
rebel colors, and it was only accomplished after the loss on our part of
four killed and several wounded, and on the part of the enemy of eight
killed. Under a heavy fire from our carbines we gathered in their battery
and held it, although they made several desperate charges to retake it.

With several more engagements following, the enemy were finally driven
across the Tennessee river, only the renmants of the force that had marched
on Nashville, a few short weeks before. In this pursuit the cavalry had
captured every piece of artillery they had fired at us. The captures of
the brigade on this march were : one general, two majors, two captains,
1. 1 73 privates, four stands of colors, 1,350 muskets, 21 wagons. 7 ambu-
lances, 15 pieces of artillery. The loss of the 2d Iowa was 61. This was
the last fighting the 2d Iowa was called to do. Slowly and weariedly the
command turned westward, finally pitching their camp at Eastport, Mis-

224 HISTORY OF STORY COUXTY

sissippi, for the remainder of the winter, and there their tents and camp
equipage came to them.

After hostilities had ceased in the following spring and summer, the
regiment was scattered over the country doing provost duty. Company B
was stationed at Corinth, until in August, when the regiment was again
assembled, and soon after marched to Decatur, Alabama, then south to
Montivallo, soon afterwards to Selma. when orders were received for
muster out, and we took train for home, jjacked on flat cars, in tlie pelting
rain. Slowly we moved along to .Meridian, to Cairo. Finally one cold
gray October morning, the train pulled into Davenport, and ~ men out of
the 178 whose names had been carried on the company rolls, climbed down
off cars, and once more planted their feet on "God's country."

Muster out rolls and pay rolls were soon made out. and on October 4th,
the men once more stood in line, and as each name was called, each man's
answer was "here" as of old — and he stepped one pace to the front, and
the citizen soldier was the soldier citizen.

From the foregoing many minor incidents of skirmish, scouting and
raid have necessarily been omitted. The life of the cavalry man in time of
active service is one of almost constant activity. The cavalrj' was called
the "eye of the army." \'igilant, both by day and night, seeking the enemy,
watching their every movement ; patrolling the countrj- at night and on
distant out-post picket duly, he got little rest. There had been many
changes in the organization at the close of the war. Our Colonel Elliott
was soon promoted to Brigadier and was succeeded by Edward Hatch,
captain of Company A. Hatch was promoted to Brigadier and was suc-
ceeded by Datus E. Coon, captain of Company I. He was promoted to
brigadier, and C. C. ITorton. 2d lieutenant Company -K at the organization
of the regiment, was colonel in command at time of discharge.

\V. P. Hepburn, the first captain of Company B, was promoted to
lieutenant-colonel; ist Lieut. Paul A. Queal then became captain. .Among
the other officers of the company during the term of service were :

Thomas Wilson, 2d lieutenant, resigned April, 1862.

Richard M. Hampton. 2d lieutenant, resigned July, 1862.

L. F. Stoddard, ist lieutenant, mustered out.

Duncan McGregor, ist lieutenant, resigned July, i€S63.

David G. Wooster. 2d lieutenant, discharged.

Captain Queal died September, i8<i4. and was succeeded by Sergeant
John L. Herbert as captain.

Private Byron A. Beeson in 1861 was ist lieutenant, and private H. H.
Boyes was 2d lieutenant of the company.

There were many changes in the ranks also. Many recruits had been
received and at the same time the ranks were constantly being depleted by
sickness, death and the casualties of war. and some promotions to other
commands.

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 225

Of the casualties in the company, the deaths and discharges, my re-
ferences are very imperfect, and my memory poor after nearly a half
century. But I may be pardoned in closing this sketch if I attempt to
render a just tribute to the memory of Captain Paul A. Queal of Company
B, a man without fear; cool, calculating in action; always solicitous for the
welfare of his men. A strict disciplinarian; with the genius to command,
and the ability for a much higher rank. He was placed in command of a
regiment of Tennessee Cavalry and soon brought order and discipline where
heretofore had been lawlessness and disorder. Soon after he was made
Judge Advocate on the Staff of General Hurlburt, at Memphis, where he
died September, 1864. Had he lived and had the war continued for any
length of time, he would most certainly have merited and attained a high
position in military affairs.

H. H. BoYES.

CHAPTER XXII.

TWENTY-THIRD IOWA IXI-AXTRY.

Company A of the Twenty-third Iowa Infantry was one of the distinctly
Story County companies. It was organized at Des Moines, but was very
largely enlisted in Story County. Fifty-eight Story County men at least
were in this company, and there were enough more in other companies to
raise the county's representation in the regiment to fully seventy-five. It
is a close cjuestion whether .A of the Twenty-third or K of the Thirty-
second had the largest number of Story County men in one company ; but
it appears to be the fact that the Twenty-third had more of them than
had any other regiment. It was a good regiment and Company A was a
good company. The men in this command saw extended ser\'ice which is
reported more in detail further on ; but it seems somewhat remarkable that
all of the casualties in action reported of the .Storv County contingent in
this company occurred in about five minutes at I'.lack River liridge where,
in those few moments, Charles 1'. Miller was killed, Collins .Snyder and
Jacob A. Grove were mortally wounded. .Xndrew K. Chamberlin and Rich-
ard May received wounds that retired them from the service; and Richard
Jones and S. P. O'Brien received woiuids from which they recovered so
as to continue in the service. In this same action, C. P. McCord. of Com-
pany K and also of this county, lost his leg.

Of the ofificers of this company, D. P. Ballard of this county was fir.st
lieutenant and afterwards captain; and S. P. O'Pirien, who had served
in the Mexican war was orderly sergeant and afterwards second lieutenant.
Ballard wrote home sketches to the ^gis from wiiich we quote below.
O'Brien still tells something of the story, and a sketch of his is also here
given. Thomas J. Miller, who went from I'.loomington and was discharged
for disability after Vicksburg, was later county treasurer, and now lives
at Ames, has prepared a more detailed report of the company, which report
also is given herewith. Geo. F. Schoonover, who from his editorial ex-
perience might easily have been the readiest contributor in this company
to the fund of knowledge of the company's experience for the time he wa.s
in, does not appear to have written much ; but one letter from New Orleans

226

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 227

lias been preserved and portrayed briefly but graphically the state of that
metropolis in war time.

These reports of Company A of the Twenty-third Iowa are as follows:

CAPTAIN BALLARD ON COMPANY A.

In the ^gis of February 24th, reporting from Fort Espranza. Texas,
on the gulf coast. Capt. Ballard said :

"The 23d now numbers 297 present, with some 75 more on the way
to the regiment. We left Des Moines on the 21st of September, 1862, with
987 men. Our companies now average both present and absent about 50
men. So that we may say 500 is the aggregate of the regiment. Let the
bloody field, the weary march, the hospital, toil and watchfulness tell where
the other 487 loyal ones are. We have lost 317 killed and wounded in
action, many in hospitals, many have been discharged, and what are left
are tough as hemlock knots, or they would have been dead. Company A,
half of which is from Story, now numbers 2i7 enlisted and commissioned.
.After the battles and marches you may judge whether we do not need a
little rest.

"The weather here is very disagreeable at this time. The cold 'norther'
has blown almost unceasingly for the past two weeks. Some of the time
the wind blew so hard that no vessel could cross the bar. Our rations got
^hort, and beef was our principal living. Hard tacks sold at five cents each,
and flour, potatoes, etc., would have brought their weight in gold. Today
we got a supply and are again gay and happy. Taps have sounded, and I
must close. The /Egis comes very regularly."

Again in the ^gis of March 23, 1864, the Captain said:

"Company A, 23d Iowa Infantry, was organized at Des Moines, August

4, 1862, by the election of Leonard B. Houston as captain, Deville P. Bal-
lard first lieutenant and Theodore G. Cree second lieutenant. Stephen P.
O'Brien of Story was appointed orderly sergeant, Thos. H. Yarnall of
Dallas second sergeant. Orin Belknap, Jr., of Polk, third sergeant, William

5. Russell of Dallas fourth serg't, and William A. Saylor of Polk fifth
serg't. The corporals were John W. Mattax of Dallas, Richard Jones of
Story, Lyman P. Houston of Polk, Merion Smith of Polk, John F. Slaugh-
ter of Dallas, Ira Briley. Charles P. Miller and George W. Smiley of Story.

"The company has been in the field from the time the regiment left Des
Moines, September 21, 1862; has been engaged in the battles of Port Gib-
son, Champion Hills, Black River Bridge, Milliken's Bend, Seiges of Vicks-
burg and Jacksorr and at Fort Espranza, has traveled over a great portion of
southeast Missouri and western Louisiana and has left its dead along the
banks of the Father of Waters from Keokuk, Iowa, to New Orleans, La.
Its numbers have been reduced from an aggregate of 99 to 36. The dis-

228 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

tance traveled by the company is over 3,000 miles up to January, 1864. The
company was composed of 83 farmers, 9 mechanics, 5 students, i teacher
and I merchant. Of these 25 were men of families and 74 were single."

In the ^gis of April 6th, 1864, Captain D. P. Ballard continues his "Re-
cord of Company A, 23d Iowa Infantry" and gives sketches of his pre-
decessors in the captaincy, L. B. Houston and Theodore G. Cree. Of
Houston he says in part: "He enlisted as a private in Company D. 2d lowa^
Infantry, and was with the gallant regiment at Donelson and Shiloh. At
the latter place he was wounded in the ankle. Obtaining a furlough he went
to Des Moines and at once began to recruit men for the 23d Iowa. Going to
Story County, he obtained the assistance of the writer of this article, and
the result was the organization of the company which was assigned the
letter A at the organization of the 23d Iowa. In his election as captain there
was not a dissenting voice." Captain Houston distinguished himself for
bravery in the \'icksburg campaign and was later promoted to the majority
of the regiment. Captain Cree went out as lieutenant of the company and
succeeded Houston in this command. He had also been a member of the 2d
Iowa and was wounded in the arm at Donelson. He held the command of
the company but a comparatively short time and at the time noted was living
at Denver, Colorado. We understand that Major Houston as well as Cap-
tain Cree returned from the war; but their story since then we have been
unable to learn. A week later Ballard said of Lieut. O'Brien : "O'Brien is
a native of Ohio. 38 years of age, formerly served in the Mexican war
and was at the battle of Buena Vista, has been in every battle of the 23d ;
was severely wounded through the arm at Black River Bridge; was pro-
moted 2d lieutenant. May 20, 1863, and is now recommended ist lieutenant
to take rank from Oct. 21, 1863, was known as the best orderly in the 23d."

Again on April 23 Ballard reported the transfer of the 23d Iowa from
Fort Espranza, Texas, to Matagorda Island, in the same state. An incident
of this transfer was that the 231I ba()j)ened to be thrown out of its order in
tlic march and the 69th Indiana i)ut in its place. Then a lot of tiic Indiana
men were sent across a bayou in an overloaded ])ontoon which sank with
them, drowning 22. We have heard J. C. Lovell, who was there, tell of this
incident as one of the most harrowing of his experience in the war. Ballard
speaks of new recruits from Story County — Schoonover. Henry Barber,
Gilbert Barber, Rhoades, Robinson, H. D. Ballard, Lovell and Elsbree, —
and remarks: "They arc now being put through the rudiments of the drills
and are all apt. Lovell is the same dry 'old six-pence,' and is destined to be
the life of the crowd with whicli he mingles. To George ( Sch(x>novcr ) it
is not entirely new, (Schoonover had scr\'ed in the First Iowa and had been
the local editor) and he will handle a gim against tiie traitors as well as he
did the quill against the tories." In tiic forty years that have passed since
this was first written Lovell has maintained fully his early reputation for

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 229

drollery and Schoonover's strong character is well remembered by those who
knew him.

SCHOONOVER ON NEW ORLEANS.

Writing from New Orleans in October. 1864, Mr. Schoonover complains
of the continued and excessive heat, which but for the occasional breezes
from the gulf would be insufferable, and continues:

"As a consequence, partly, the city, which owes its existence to its com-
mercial advantages, is very dull. Of business, leaving out government trans-
actions, there is none to speak of. Two or three river steamers per week
and an occasional steamer from New York manage to bring and carry away
all the imports and exports of the vast metropolis. As far as life and ac-
tivity are concerned, the whole city, with the exception of two or three of
the principal streets, has the aspect of a country village on Sunday, more
than anything else. In fact, the greatest stir and bustle perceptible for weeks
at a stretch on any of the principal thoroughfares is occasioned by the ar-
rival of a mail from New York, and the soldiers contribute even a good
share of that. New Orleans is not what it used to be. This may seem
strange at first, since the city had been in possession of our forces and under
wholesome government for more than two years. But the reason is ap-
parent. The trade of immense districts now in rebellion, which formerly
drew all their supplies from here, is now entirely cut off, and leaves the
business men a comparatively small field to operate in. Of course, with
the return of peace and the black cloud of slavery dispelled, New Orleans
will resume more than her wonted spirit of enterprise and commercial
buoyancy."

"steve" o'brien's story of the 23D.

Company A of the 23d Iowa, of which I was lieutenant, joined the rest
of the regiment at Des Moines and left that place on September 19, 1862.
One half of our regiment was transported to Keokuk on old four-horse
stages, and the other half, of which I was one, had the pleasure of footing it.
We thought it a great hardship when we started, but we were glad later as
the stages were so crowded there was no comfort at all. The men were
piled on like tar-buckets, inside and on the top.

From Keokuk to St. Louis we went by steamer. We remained at St.
Louis two weeks and then went on to Patterson, Mo., on foot. The prev-
alence of small-pox, measles, and mumps, of which several of our company
died, caused us to remain in Patterson the greater part of the winter.

Our first skirmish was at Pitman's Ferry, Missouri, where the rebels ran
from us as quick as we fired on them and got away from us; and on the road
to Pitman's Ferry our advance guard captured a rebel picket, composed of
a captain and thirteen men. In the spring we went on down the river to
Milliken's Bend or Young's Point, where we witnessed the running of

230 HISTORY' OF STORY COUXTY

the batteries at \icksburg. Tlien we went cross-country to and down the
river to Purkin's plantation where we again witnessed the running of a
blockade — this time that of Grand Gulf. Then we crossed the river at
iJniinsburg and started for Jackson, Mississippi, and on the morning of
the first day of .May we ran into our first engagement which was a real fight.
It was first called the battle of Thompson's Mill and later Magnolia church,
and was finally entered on record as the Battle of Port Gibson. We were
successful in defeating the rebels there and in driving them back— {|uite an
army of them. At this battle our regiment made a desperate bayonet
charge, capturing the 23d Alabama regiment.

After we had succeeded in capturing that regiment, by the request of
my colonel. I ran back to where wc had started on tiie charge where he said
he had seen Corporal Hiestand woundi-d. WJien I got back there I found
that the corporal had been moved back to tiie ])rimarv h(>s])ital. and in mak-
ing my return to my regiment, fearing they might think I had deserted, I
took a short cut across a deep ravine. In this ravine I ran onto a rebel
lieutenant colonel unexpectedly, who was hiding behind a tree, having been
cut off from his regiment. His name was I'etus and he was a brother of
the confederate governor of Mississi])])!. He was as handsome a man as I
ever saw and when he saw my bayonet he surrendered like a man. I de-
livered tlic colonel over to the provost guard at the hospital and hastened
back to rejoin my regiment on their way to Port Gibson, feeling about as
big as General (irant. At Port Gibson the next day I was telling my ad-
ventures to some soldiers on the street in front of a mansion where three
ladies were standing in a doorway. I noticed that they turned on hearing
my story and hastened ujistairs. One of them .soon returned and said that
there was a wounded confederate officer upstairs who wanted to see me. I
at once went up to meet him and he told me he was the colonel to the same
regiment to which Lieut. Colonel Petus belonged. He treated me ver}'
kindly and seemed to be very glad to know that Lieut. Col. Petus was not
killed or wounded. The colonel had good grit and said we had defeated
them yesterday but that they would finally succeed. I stayed all the after-
noon and had a good vi.sit with bin) and in parting told him he had lots of
sand but poor jutlgment.

We then went on to Jackson having a few skirmishes on the way, and
when we got within seven miles of Jackson we got orders to go into camp.
Jackson having been evacuated by the rebels. We went next to Champion
Hill, at which place our regiment did not participate in the active figlit, but
were held in reserve for Generals Hovey, Logan, and Osterhaus. In the
afternoon after the battle we were ordered to advance towards \icksburg.
We arrived the next morning at Big Black river, where our regiment led
the charge on the rebels and where we lost in killed and wounded alx)ut half
of our number. In this charge our colonel was killed and several other
officers, and I myself was wounded, receiving three flesh wounds. I was
held in the hospital for eight days and then went forward to the ditches, in

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 231

the rear of \'icksburg, afterwards meeting my regiment at Young's Point.
Our regiment was held there until June /th, when we went into the fight at
Milliken's Bend, where we were charged upon by Walker's Texas Brigade.
At this place our regiment suffered great losses but we defeated General
Walker with his brigade of i,8oo Texans. After that we went back and
into the ditches near \'icksburg and remained there until the surrender.

From there we went on down through Texas but were not in any more
engagements until after I had returned home in 1864. One fact that ought
to be on record is that out of the 99 men of Company A in September '62,
only 35 were permitted to return to their liomes.

THOMAS J. miller's REPORT OF STORY COUNTY IN COMPANY A.

Company A, 23rd Regiment, Iowa Infantry, was organized at Des
Aloines, Iowa, Aug. 4th, 1862. by the election of Leonard B. Houstand of
Des Moines, as captain, and Deville P. Ballard of Story County, ist lieuten-
ant and Theodore G. Cree of Des Moines, 2nd lieutenant.

Stephen P. O'Brien of Story County, was appointed ist sergeant,
Thomas H. Yarnall of Dallas County, 2nd sergeant ; Orin J. Belknap, of
Polk County. 3rd sergeant; William S. Russell of Dallas County, 4th ser-
geant, and William A. Saylor of Polk County, 5th sergeant. The corporals
were John W. Mattox of Dallas County. Richard Jones of Story County,
Lyman P. Houstand of Polk County. Marion P. Smith, of Polk County,
John F. Slaughter, of Dallas County, and Ira Briley, Charles P. Miller and
George W. Smiley of Story County.

The company numbered 99 men. 83 of whom were farmers, 9 mechanics,
5 students, one teacher and one merchant.

We went into Camp Burnside, Des Moines, Iowa, Aug. i8th 1862, and
there remained until September 19, 1862, when we were mustered into the
United States service, and company A and four other companies started on
tlie march for Keokuk, Iowa. We arrived there September 25, and went
into camp. We remained until the 27th, when we went on board the steam-
boat. Metropolitan, and started for St. Louis, where we arrived on the 28th,
at 10 a. m. and on the 29th. we went into Schofield Barracks, where we re-
mained doing provost duty until October loth, when we again started south
this time on the cars, stopping a few days at Pilot-Knob and Arcadia, and
finally landing at Camp Patterson, Mo., on the 18th day of October, 1862.

.Seven days later or on Oct. 25th. Company A and two other companies
of the 23rd Iowa, under command of Lieutenant Colonel Kinsman, were
ordered out on a raid to break up a camp of confederates at Pitman's ferry.
The balance of this expedition was made up as follows : 5 companies, Mis-
souri volunteers ; 2 companies, Missouri state militia ; i section Slang's bat-
tery, and 18 men of the 12th Missouri cavalry. We were joined 12 miles
out by 3 companies of the 24th Missouri. This expedition was under com-
mand of Colonel Dewey, of the 23rd Iowa and started at 6 o'clock on the
morning of the 25th of October, 1862, and marched 26 miles to Black river,
which place they reached at 4 o'clock, p. m., and found a wide, deep stream.

232 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

very difficult to cross. But by 1 1 o'clock that night, all were across and in
cam]). We were up and on the march by 8 o'clock on the morning of the
26th, and marched 20 miles and went into camp 17 miles from Pitman's
ferry. At 2 o'clock a. m. the 27th. we were on the march ;ij;ain, without any
breakfast, we reached the ferry about 3 o'clock in the morning, having had
a few little brushes with the enemy and capturing a captain and 13 men.
We gained possession of the ferry and a part of the command crossed and
dei)lo\ed as skirmishers following the retreating Johnnies. The rest of the
command were held in reserve, and kept skirmishing until dark, when we
went into camp, having made a march of 65 miles in two and one-half days,
and without anything to eat for the last twenty hours, the first day through
a severe storm. The next morning we started back to Camp Paterson by a
more circuitous route of eighty miles, which we made in four days, crossing
tw-Q wide deep streams and reaching camp at 6 o'clock on the evening of
November 2nd. Thus ended Company A's first raid into the enemy's
country which was regarded as very successful, though very severe on the
boys, who were as yet quite green at soldiering.

We again left Camp Paterson on the 20th day of December. 1862, go-
ing south, our real destination unknown, but supposedly Little Rock, .Xr-
kansas. We made a short stop at \'an Buren on the 23rd, and on the first
day of January, 1863, we were in camp on the south side of Current river,
which the officers named Camp Emancipation, in honor of the taking effect
of the emancipation proclamation on this day. But the boys with their faith
in the eternal fitness of things, and the characteristic shrewdness of the
Yankee soldier, changed the name, to the far more appropriate one of
"Camp Starvation."

We left starvation heights on the fourteenth, with the ground frozen
hard enough to bear up a six mule team, and by ten o'clock the mud was
ten inches deep and so we dragged along till dark, ami went into camp in a
low, wet i)iece of ground without any tents, the roads being so bad our
teams could not get in. so we cut corn stalks from a nearby field, and corded
them up about ten inches high, and spread our blankets on these, and
crawled in. We woke up in the morning with about three inches of as
pretty white snow as you ever saw on our blankets. We .stayed here all
day the sixteenth. On the morning of the seventeenth we again broke camp
and started .south. On the evening of the 31st of Jan. we went into camji
at West Plains, where we remained until the 8th of Feb. when we received
orders to return to Arcadia and started at once for that place, where we ar-
rived on the first day of March. 1863.

On the ninth of March we again took up the line of march, this time for
Ste. Genevieve, on the banks of the Mississipjii river, where we arrived on
the eleventh and on the morning of the thirteenth we went on board the
steamboat Chouteau and steamed off down the river passing Cairo on the
evening of the fourteenth and arrive<l at New Madrid on the morning of
the fifteenth, where we went ashore and into camp. On the twenty-second

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 233

day of March, we went on board the steamboat again, this time the White-
cloud. As our boat pulled off down the river we, with swelling hearts, bid
adieu to old Missouri and ran down to Memphis where we tied up all day
the twenty-third. Here we met our old home friends J. A. Fitchpatrick, R.
J. Campbell and others of the Third Iowa. And, gentle reader, you may be
sure it was a happy greeting we gave each other and for quite a number of
the boys that was their last meeting on this earth.

On the twenty-fourth we loosed anchor and swung off down the river
again, landing at Milliken's Bend on the second day of April, 1863, where we
remained until the twelfth, when we started for the rear of Vicksburg. We
marched down through Richmond and Carthage, La., and finally stopped at
Hard Times landing, where we took the boat again, and ran down the river
about twelve miles, in sight of and about four miles above. Grand Gulf,
where we witnessed the bombardment of the enemy's fortification on the
twenty-ninth, which lasted several hours, and was unsuccessful. So we
then marched across the country to about five miles below Grand Gulf,
where we bivouacked for the night, and during the night the gunboats and
I think, five transports ran the blockade.

On the morning of the thirtieth of April, we went aboard the boats again
and ran down the river to Bruinsburg, sixteen miles below Grand Gulf,
where we landed at four o'clock p. m., and immediately took up the line
of march toward Port Gibson, marched till sundown, when halted and got
a hurried supper, and started on, with the 23rd Iowa in the advance. We
marched without interruption until one o'clock, a. m. on May first, when the
advance guard was fired upon by the enemy's pickets ; out about three or
four miles from Port Gibson. We opened ranks and the first Iowa battery
thundered through, wheeled to the right, unlimbered and opened fire on the
enemy, and for an hour or more there was quite an artillery display, after
this firing ceased, Companies A and F. were ordered forward and deployed
on the skirmish line, and in the darkness advanced for perhaps a quarter of
a mile feeling our way (as you may imagine) very carefully. Everything
being quiet, we concluded the enemy was going to remain, and give us a
welcome in the morning, so we were recalled and marched back a short dis-
tance over the brow of a little hill, where we lay on our arms, on the bare
ground till about four o'clock a. m. to get a little much needed rest, if pos-
sible. Shortly after sunrise the ball was again opened by the confederate
batteries, the first Iowa battery immediately replying. About ten o'clock
the 23rd, which occupied the extreme right, was ordered forward, we had
to pass through a deep ravine which was thickly covered on both sides with
underbrush and cane ; then we came out into an open field where we did our
fighting. We remained in line here for about half an hour, firing rapidly
all the time, when we fixed bayonets and charged the enemy, who retreated
in some confusion, but again rallied and retreated slowly for about a mile,
when they made another stand for a considerable time, but finally gave
way, and the retreat was general all along the line, after five hours of hard

234 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

fighting. Our regiment the 23rcl Iowa, lost in this battle nine men killed and
twenty-six wounded. Company A lost one killed and five wounded. The
one killed was Calvin Johnson, of Boone Count\ . .\ finer young man and a
better soldier than whom never lived. Thus ended our first real battle.

It being now nearly night we camped on the battlefield, were called up
about one o'clock a. m. and moved about a quarter of a mile to support a
battery, there being some fear that an attack might be niatle. Here again we
lay on our arms until morning, when we moved on into I'ort Gibson without
further opposition, arriving there about noon of May the 2nd. We remained
in camp, in Port Gibson, until the 8th of May when we started for Jackson,
.Miss., ])assing through Clinton. Raymond. IJolton, etc., and on the evening
of the fourteenth, after an all day's forced march, through a steady rain,
we cam]3ed within seven miles of Jackson. During the night a courier
came in saying the Johnnies had evacuated Jackson, and with orders for us
to counter-march toward Champion-Hills, so on the morning of the 15th.
we started back over almost the same road that we traveled the tlay before,
and were ready for the battle of Champion Hills on the sixteenth, but for-
tunateh- for us, we were not called upon to take any active part in that ter-
rible engagement. On the night of the sixteenth we camjied at Edwards
Station, going into camp about 9 o'clock, tired and hungry but nothing to
eat.

On the morning of the 17th we were on the march again at four o'clock,
and soon found the enemy strongly entrenched at liig lUack River. Again
the 23rd Iowa occupied the extreme right of the battle line. We marched
to the right through a strip of woods till we struck the river, which being
very low left an almost peqjendicular wall of from six to eight feet high,
with room enough between this bank and the water to march. So under
protection of this bank we marched ilown till our right (which was Co. A)
was within two hundred yards of the confederate fortifications. At ten
o'clock, we were ordered to fix bayonets and charge their works which we
did in good shape. Now please bear in mind that these fortifications that I
s]3eak of, as being one or two hundred yards away, were to our right, or west
of us, while we, in making the charge, had to go some three or four hun-
dred yards south, and swing to the west, around the south end of their
works, thus cutting off the retreat of .some seventeen hundred confederates,
whom we captured but at a terrible loss to us. The brunt of this charge
fell on M. K. I.awler's brigade, of which the 23rd, was a part, and the
heaviest blow was on the 23rd Iowa, as you will see by the losses. The total
loss in the 1 3lh army corjis. was 2-(). the loss in Lawler's brigade alone, was
221. while the 23rd regiment lost 101. These losses include killed and
wounded, and the whole loss was iiractically sustained in three minutes"
time. Company .\ lost two killed and ten woiuide<l. four of whom died in
a few days of their wounds, lirigadier General l.awler at the conclusion of
his report of this battle, says : "The Twenty-third Iowa X'olunteers which
had borne such a distinguished part and suffered so severely in the charge

HISTORY OU STORY COUNTY 235

was placed as a guard over the prisoners and by order of Major General U.
S. Grant, was permitteil to take them as far north as Memphis, where we
turned them over to the commandant of the post."

We turned the prisoners over on the twenty-seventh of May, and im-
mediately returned to Young's Point, on the west side of the Mississippi,
where we arrived on the thirtieth. Late in the evening of June sixth, the
23rd regiment was ordered to immediately embark for Milliken's Bend, to
the support of the garrison at that place which was being threatened by the
enemy. Fortunately or otherwise for Company A, (whose history I am
writing) we had nearly all been sent out on picket, before this order was
received, and consequently had a very small representation in this terrible
hand to hand conflict. The garrison at Milliken's Bend, consisted of a small
body of colored troops numbering about 800, who were utterly untrained in
the art of war, the 23rd Iowa being the only white troops there, and it num-
bered less than 2CX). On the morning of June the 7th, they were attacked
by a brigade of confederates numbering 2,500, under command of H. E.
McCulloch, with 200 cavalry. The 23rd Iowa lost 2^ killed and 41 wounded.
Company A sustained no loss in this action.

After the battle we dropped down to \'an liuren hospital w^ith the
wounded. And the ne.xt day went on down to Young's Point. On the eighth
we went over to the rear of Vicksburg, and took our place in the general
siege. On the second of July we were called out and made a forced march
out toward Big-Black-River under General Lawler, then back again on the
thirtl. and I do not know to this day what we went out there for. Vicks-
burg surrendered on the fourth. On the fifth Company A and the balance
of the regiment started for Jackson. Miss., again, with about 60 men in the
regiment. Reached Jackson on the fourteenth but not in time to take part in
the tiglit. were back to X'icksburg on the twenty-sixth of July, where we re-
mained till the thirteenth of August, when we went on boartl a steamboat
bound for Carlton, La, where we arrived and went into camp on the 20th.
On the evening of Sept. 4th we marched to Algiers opposite New Orleans,
where we took the cars to Bayou-Bouf, where the company arrived that
night and went into camp until the eleventh of September, when we moved
to Brashear City, from Broisier to Burwic. Oct. 6th camped about 50 miles
west of Brashear City, then to Vermillion and Opelousas and Iberia, where
we remained till November 8th. Then out to near Franklin, Burwic Bayou,
where we took cars to Algiers where we arrived at five o'clock p. m., Nov.
14, 1863. On the i6th we embarked at 5 o'clock p. m. on board the steam-
boat Crescent bound for Texas. The 17th was a calm day, but the i8th,
19th and 20th were very stormy days. Company F lost one man from being
washed overboard. On the evening of the 27th, we arrived off Mustang
Island, 70 miles from Matagorda bay. On Nov. 29th the regiment pro-
ceeded with the expedition against Fort Esparanza which commanded the
entrance to Matagorda Bay. We crossed St. Joseph's and Matagorda Is-
lands and arrived in front of the fort on Dec. ist. But the enemy had blown

236 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

up their magazines and evacuatecl the fort the night before, thus saving
many vahiable hves.

\\ c went into camp on tiie peninsula at DeCrou's Point, where we re-
mained until Jan. 3rd 1864, on which date the 23rd with other troops em-
barked for Indianolia, that town being occui)ied by a force of rebels, who on
the appearance of the vessels carrying Union troops evacuated the town.
and retreated to the interior. Here we were quartered in houses, for about
three weeks, when we again moved to old Indianolia and went into winter
quarters, on the i8th of Jan. 1864. Here we remained until the 13th of
March, when we started back to Fort Esperanza where we arrived the 14th.
and went into camp about 5 miles from the fort remaining there till the
26th of April, when we again went aboard ship bound for New Orleans,
wiiere we arrived on the evening of the 28th of April, started up the river
on the 4th day of May, on board the Madison, and on the 6th stopped at the
mouth of Red river and ran up the river to Fort DuRussy, the river being
so obstructed we could go no further. We returned to the mouth of Red
river and landed on the nth. On the 12th camped opposite the mouth of
Red river and stayed till the 17th. when we ran up the Red river and down
the Atchafalaya to Semmes Port. Marched all night of the 20th, and up to
9 p. m. of the 2 1 St and arrived on the 22nd of May at Morganza where we
remained till May 30th, when we marched 30 miles to the southwest on a
scout and returned again on June 2nd to Morganza where we remained until
July 13th when we took passage on board the steamboat Katie Dale bound
for \'icksburg. Changed boats at Natchez for the Gray Eagle and arrived
at Vicksburg at 2 a. m. on the morning of the 15th. Here we again changed
boats this time for the old White Cloud, (which took us down the river in
1863) and on the i6th started for the mouth of White river where we ar-
rived on the i8th. The 21st we started up Wliite river and landed at St.
Charles on the 23rd of July where we lay in camp till the 6th day of August,
when we again went on board the White Cloud and started back down the
river and landed at Morganza and went into camp on the 13th of August,
where we stayed till the first day of October, 1864. Oct. ist and 2nd we
marched out to Semmes Port. And on the 9th and loth we marched back
again to Morganza. On the 1 1 th took boat for Du \'alls Bluffs where we
arrived and went into camji on the 18th. We remained in this camp until
Nov. 9lh. I-'rom this time on we were mostly on the move and doing gar-
rison duty working on fortifications, etc., until March 27th, 1865, when we
took port in the siege and capture of Spanish Fort, which the enemy evac-
uated on the night of -April the 8th. Then commenced another .series of
miarches and counter marches back and forth until the news of Johnson and
Lee's surrender was confinnc<l, and we were tinally sent back over into
Texas where we spent another month moving from place to place. Until
as the records show we were mustered out at I larrisburg, Texas, on the 26th
of lulv, 1865, and started for Cod's comity and were disbanded at Daven-
port, Iowa, on the i ith of August, 1865.

MAIN STREET, AMES

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 237

The average age of the 58 men who served in Company A, 23rd Iowa,
from Story County, was a fraction over 24 years. 15 of the 50 boys who
went out with the company in August, 1862, went through to Harrisburg,
Texas, and were discharged with the regiment at that place. Of the other
35 twenty died of disease, 10 were discharged for disability, two died of
wounds, two were discharged for wounds and one was killed in battle. Of
the eight who came, to us as recruits, five were transfered to the 29th Iowa,
two were discharged for disability and one died of disease. The company
traveled on wheels 1,157 miles, on boat 8,291 miles and marched 1,497 miles.
Total miles traveled, 10,945. These figures are taken from data kept at the
time and are practically correct.

On the morning of the 27th of July (the morning after our second re-
turn from Jackson) just 10 months and 8 days after leaving Des Moines,
there were just 5 men able to answer "here" at morning roll call and 4 of
these were from Story County and are still living, and are, S. P. O'Brien of
Ames, who has been totally disabled for several years, Chris Torkelson of
Story City, Iowa, Sever Tesdal of Slater, Iowa, and Willis Gossard of Ogle
County, 111. (I am indebted to O'Brien and Torkelson for this information,
but their memory fails them to locate the fifth man.)

In concluding this narrative I feel that it is but just that I should say
that I have been greatly handicapped from the fact that none of our regi-
mental officers, (except Col. Dewey, who died at Patterson) ever made any
official report of any of the engagements we were in, so I have had to de-
pend upon the reports of our brigade commander's personal memoranda
kept at the time, and memory. And in this connection I wish to express
my thanks to Captain W. M. Little of Corydon, Iowa, captain of Company
D, to whom I am greatly indebted for memoranda, dates, etc. I also kept a
daily diary myself until the surrender of Vicksburg. In this narrative I
have endeavored to give the plain unvarnished facts. I regret that some
person more able than myself was not selected to write this history. Un-
doubtedly there are many incidents of interest that have been overlooked.
As stated the dates have been gathered from memoranda kept from day to
day and are in the main correct. Company A had a fine set of officers of
whom she was proud, and I believe her officers had confidence in, and were
proud of their men and you will pardon me if I say that I believe Story
County is proud of the record made by the boys she sent out in Company A,
23rd Iowa. And no less proud of the boys she sent and the records they
made in the various other regiments that went out in the '60s.

T. J. Miller.

Vol. 1—16

CHAPTER XXIll.

TIlIRT^'-SECnxn IOWA IXF.WTin".

Company K nf tlic I liirty-second. was piubalilv more exclusively a Storv
County orgjuiization than was any other of the commands enlisted here or in
this vicinity. It was enlisted mostly in August. 1862, and was mustered
into service on October f\ 1862. and its first officers were: Rev. [osepli
Cadwallader, of Story County, captain; Cideon Wheeler of Marshall
County, first lieutenant and afterwards captain; George Child of Stor\
County, second lieutenant and afterwards first lieutenant. Captain Cad-
wallader was a very po])ular jircacher from the south part of the county
and later became regimental chajilain. Sergeants, who subsequentlv reached
the grade of second lieutenant, were N'incent Tomlinson and Williaiu .\.
[•"alias. The regimental organization also pertained in a very especial degree
to Story County. The regiment was organized from the fifth and sixth
congressional districts of the state, comprising most of the north half of the
state, and it was understood from the beginning that the regiment would be
commanded by Col. John Scott of Nevada. Col. Scott had come to Xevada
in 1856, had come in a short time to be recognized as the leading citizen of
the county, had been tendered the nomination for state representative in
1857, and had been nominated and elected to the state senate in 1859. lie
had been the first captain of Company E of the Third Infantry, had been
immediately promoted to the lieutenant-colonelcy upon the organization of
the 3(1 regiment ; and by reason of his gallant service in the field and general
standing in the state, was naturally the choice of Gov. Kirkwood for the
command of the regiment, which in the autumn of 1862 was to be raised in
this portion of the state. Col. Scott was authorized by the governor to
choose his own regimental staff, and he very fortunately chose T. C. Mc-
Call, then representative in the general assembly and in after years both
re])resentative and senat<ir. for his regimental quaricriuaster. His adjutant
was never a resident of Story County; but for the most of his active life.
he was a familiar figure and much beloved friend with very many of tiie
Story County peojjle. This was Hon. Chas. .Mdrich. then editor of the
Hamilton Freeman, at Webster City; later publisher of the Marshall Times;
previously chief clerk of the general assembly, and in later years, representa-
tive therein and curator of the State Historical Library.

238

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 239

With the assurance that the regiment would thus be commanded by a
Story County citizen, and with the prospect of exceptional prominence and
opportunity in the regiment for Story County men, it is not surprising
that the company which was to go from Story County to this regiment
should have been very easily recruited. The regiment was mustered into
service at Dubuque on the 6th of October; but it was not until November
i6th that it started by boat down the Mississippi to St. Louis, where it ar-
rived on the 22d. :\lajor General S. R. Curtis was there in command, and
at the very beginning of its service, he made for the regiment an assignment
that was not appreciated at the time, and which, for nearly a year and one-
half, was prejudicial to the general interest of the regiment as a military
unit. This assignment was to send four companies. A, D, F and G under
Major Eberhart to Cape Girardeau. The other six companies, under com-
mand of Col. Scott, and including K from Story County, were sent to New
Madrid.

The work to which these separate divisions of the regiment were as-
signed, was to watch bushwhackers, chase guerrillas, and to try to keep the
supposedly peaceful citizens of southern persuasion in s<jutheastern Mis-
souri from interfering too much with the traffic up and down the river.
This service was trying and arduous and important but inglorious and af-
fording very little satisfaction. At one time, the regiment was still further
split up. Companies B, E and I. under Captain Miller, being transferred to
Columbus, Kentucky; Company C, under Captain Peebles, being mounted
and doing cavalry service around Union City, Tennessee, and Companies
H and K, under Captain Benson, being what was left at headquarters on
Island No. lo. During a part of this time. Col. Scott was in command of
the post at Columbus, Kentucky, while Lieutenant Colonel Mix was serving
as member of a court martial at Cairo. During the occupation of New Ma-
drid by the six companies, the rebels raided in that vicinity in large force,
and Col. Scott was imperatively ordered by the union commander nearest
him, at Columbus, Kentucky, to evacuate Ft. Madrid, and transfer his force
across the river. This he did with many regrets, and the movement was
quite unsatisfactory to Gen. Curtis, who, being at St. Louis, was distant from
the theatre of action, but was in general command of the department of Mis-
souri. The controversies arising out of this incident were one of the circum-
stances rendering unpleasant the earlier service of this regiment ; although
the strict compliance with the orders of a superior officer relieved Col. Scott
of any blame for what was undoubtedly an ill advised action by the com-
mander at Columbus.

Very much of the field record of the regiment and particularly of the
record of the companies under Major Eberhart at Cape Girardeau, is fur-
nished by Sergeant J. M. Boyd of Company F, who was a good observer,
had literary qualities and kept a diary. A fair sample of the sort of service
the various companies went through in southeastern Missouri, between
November of 1862, and the early part of 1864, is furnished in a report by

240 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

Sergeant Boyd of an excursion which the four companies made from Cape
Girardeau westward, in March. 1863. Tlie Sergeant says: "The 14th of
March brought marching orders for Hloomfiehl. tlie county seat of Stoddard
County. Missouri, and the boys rejoiced at the prospect of release from gar-
rison duty. Arriving at Rloomtield on the i6tli. tlie detachment was camped
east of town near Henry Miller's big spring. Miller's big log house becom-
ing headquarters and boarding house for our officers. Here for the soldier
was another term of guard duty, picketing the roads and guarding the old log
jail, generally well tilled with rebel prisoners. These prisoners presented a
medley of humanity. One of them was a Baptist minister of Alabama, with
the rank of first lieutenant in the rebel army, an educated and accomplished
gentleman. Another was a Methodist preacher from Kentucky. Another
claimed to be a native of French Guiana. South America. He no doubt
had been an adventurous fellow, had seen much of the world and could tell
many thrilling stories of his adventures and hair-breadth escapes by sea and
by land. Many an hour was spent in social chat by the guards and some
of the ijrisoners, sitting on the ground along the guard line. One day a
cavalry officer brought in a squad of prisoners and turning them over to the
sergeant of the guard said. 'There is a hard one, look out for him, point-
ing to a man that some of the other i)risoners called Judge Taylor. He was
a stout, well built man of muscle and nerve, and no doubt a man of great
physical ability and endurance. His countenance and skin looked as though
he had been steeped in filth and tobacco juice. His clothes and butternut
suit were dirty and filthy. His ])hysiognomy would indicate much low cun-
ning, and native shrewdness, mi.xed with a disposition of cruelty. He was
the spokesman and leader among the swamp bushwhackers, who infested
the swamps and low lands of southeastern Missouri, and bore the titles of
judge provost, marshal and recruiting officer. Just after he was passed into
the guard lines, his wife approached the line with a change of clothing. The
sergeant of the guard was required to carefully examine the clothing and
pass his thumb and finger over every seam to .see that they contained noth-
ing contraband. This was easily done with the clothes brought by the wo-
man ; for. if they were not clean, but if the dirt was boiled in. the gray-backs
were boiled dead ; but when the sergeant was compelled to stand over the
old judge while he changed suits ami oxaniinc the cast off clothes before
turning them over to the woman, then came the tug of war. To hold his
nose as far away as possible from the stench, and to hold the clothes away
so that the gray-backs might not tall ujion himself were the two main points,
but every seam was carefully examined, desjiite the falling gray-backs, while
officers and soldiers, standing by, enjoyed the si)ort at the sergeant's expense.
"One of the most notorious of these bushwhackers was a desperado,
known as Jack Cato. who boasted that he had made at least eighty Union
men bite the dust. Some fortv rods down the hill, east of the old jail, was
a piece of timber land, and at tlu- ixiint of the liinhor was a tree, a large
liml) or branch si)reading over the plowed ground, on the upper side of which

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 241

the bark was worn off, and Jack boasted that it was done by the rope, hang-
ing Union men thereon. Three Union men were caught, and made to dig
three graves under that tree. The first was hung and thrown into the first
grave. The second one hung and put into the second grave. The third was
hung up and then let down and ordered to go and report to the Yankees,
and his grave left open. Just as the first ray of light could be seen in the
east on a beautiful April morning. Jack was taken from jail, marched to
that grave, where a rough coffin was placed, required to about-face and kneel
upon the coffin, when the unerring bullet from the gun of one of the guards,
selected for that purpose, sped to his heart. He fell upon his coffin, with a
terrible oath on his lips, and soon filled a felon's grave. On the night before
the execution of the wretched man, some of the boys were on guard at the
jail, and when they informed him of his fate, he swore that he did not care ;
he had had his satisfaction in killing Union men, at least 80 Yankees had
died from the shot of his rifle when they did not know he had the drop on
them. Chaplain Wood called to see him, but was only met by defiant sneers
and curses."

While Col. Scott was in command of the post at Ft. Pillow, another in-
cident occurred which was illustrative of the service of the regiment and of
the conditions under which the service was rendered, and of this incident an
interesting souvenir has remained for nearly fifty years in the sheriff's office
of this county, Capt. Geo. Child told the story in a letter to W. G. Allen,
who was then postmaster at Nevada, the letter being written at Ft. Pillow,
Tennessee, on March 18, 1863. At the time. Col. Scott had just returned
to his command, after a temporary absence for the purpose of explaining to
his superiors his evacuation of New Madrid. The explanation, as before
noted, had been conclusive so far as he was concerned ; although no ex-
planation was ever quite satisfactory as to General Davis, in accordance with
whose orders the evacuation had taken place. The souvenirs mentioned are
some shackles of excellent but unusual design, which the sheriff of Story
County has found occasion to use sometimes, when especially hard char-
acters have come into his charge. They were acquired by Captain Child
under circumstances related in his letter, and by him sent home and de-
posited for safe keeping with the proper officer of Story County. Captain
Child's letter is of permanent value and the bulk of it is inserted here:

"Captain Cadwallader and Lieut. Wheeler, Quartermaster McCall and
Adjutant Aldrich with sixteen men have just returned from a little scout.
On the evening of the i6th a man came into camp and went to the provost
marshal and asked for a permit to take two black men out to Ripley, a little
town some twenty-five miles from here, and try them for stealing. The
permit was granted by the provost, the black men chained and taken out of
our lines. Col. Scott, hearing of this, ordered the provost under arrest and
sent Capt. Cadwallader to bring them back. Accordingly the captain started
yesterday morning in pursuit, and after traveling twenty-five miles they
came upon them, finding them at the same house where they captured the

242 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

Rebel Cushnian, who broke jail at Columbus. Kentucky, a short time ago.
The}- found the two black men chained together and digging up a stump,
with a man standing over them with a gun. This, understand, they were
having to do after traveling on foot for twenty-five miles over bad roads
with their arms tied behind them. .And more than that, after coming up to
the poor black men our men found a large lot of hickory and willow, as large
at the butt as a broom-handle and eight feet long. James M. Applegate told
me that he could not reach around the i)ile and lift it. They were just cut
for the purpose to whip these men; and more than that, they had gotten
paddles made with holes in them to beat and blister them, and then they say
they wash them with salt and water. This is the Union as it was. God only
knows how many of these poor creatures have lost their lives by this treat-
ment. The ca])tain was just in time to save these men from that cruel
punishment. I think there are one or two Democrats spoiled by that trip.
and if the boys had caught them wliijjping the negroes, they surely would
ha\c l)C(.n iiiut. if nothing more. Captain Cadwallader presented nic with
the shackles with which the two black men were chained, and I will send
them by John Mcllarnes to the sheriff of Story County for the use of the
county until called for. McBarno will start for home in a few days, and I
hope some of my Democratic friends will call and see the shackles."

Captain Child also relates another incident not so striking but neverthe-
less significant of the service of loni])an\ K. lie add^ in the same letter as
that quoted above :

"I have been out tiiirty or forty miles on scout>. I wa> at Ripley, the
county-seat of tliis country, also at Durliannillc. I think the ])laccs are
alx)Ut half as large as Nevada and sonic very good houses but mostly de-
serted. I saw >ome fine country in that vicinity and some good plantations.
For instance, we called at one about three o'clock in the morning. There
were about one hundred and twenty-five men of us. all mounted. We got
feed for our horses, and some twenty got good beds to take a short nap.
About six o'clock they commenced eating breakfast, and we all got a good
breakfast and were away before eight o'clock. The folks conii)laineil some
and .said their helj) had left them. 1 counted about si.xty around there of
large and small, black and white, .some as white as anyone. I saw in i>iu-
lot some si.xteen cabins vacant, and in this lot one family had mules, cattle,
hogs and such property, and it looked a< though in good times, or in tinie-
of peace, it was a regular stock-yard ; Inu proiierty in man is aboiu i)layed
out.

"1 have heard a good deal about the i)oor whites in the south but never
believed there was such a poor and ignorant class. I believe the blacks of
northern Missouri are as intelligent as the jxior whites of Tennessee. When
this war closes you will see that instead of using shackles they will use
school houses."

Still another citation to show the sort of incidents that livened matter-
up for the 321I during its service in the guerrilla country is taken from E. G.

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 243

Day, who resigned tlie county clerkship to go into the quartermaster's ser-
vice under Captain IMcCall and who was on duty at New Madrid, which was
long the headquarters of the larger portion of the 32d, including company K.
Writing about January of 1865 he said:

"The monotony of camp life at this post was somewhat relieved on yes-
terday by the following occurrence which took place about eight or nine
miles outside the lines. It seems a couple of negroes who were living inside
the lines, concluded they would make a short excursion in the country,
vihether for pleasure or profit, I cannot say, but sure it is, that the niggers
made the trip, as some of the Rebs can testify to their sorrow. While travel-
ing along the road, the aforesaid niggers were accosted by some two or three
white men. who ordered them to fall into line, as they were going to march
them down south. The negroes, it seems, had taken the precaution to arm
themselves with pistols before leaving home, and having no relish for a
journey in a southerly direction, took the studs and refused to accompany
the fellows, and upon their attempting to enforce the demand, one of the
niggers drew his pistols, fired away and killed one of the chaps as dead as a
mackerel, blowing the whole top of his head off ; when the balance fled for
safer quarters, and the darkies took the dead Reb's horse and came back to
tile post. The commander of the post ordered out a scout who went and in-
vestigated the afl:air, finding that the fellow killed had been a lieutenant in
the rebel army for some two years past."

Concerning the fate of the kidnappers that Captain Child tells about, we
do not know that there is any available record, but Col. Scott used to tell a
story, that, we think, pertained to these parties. The story, as it is now re-
called, was that after the chief kidnapper had been brought to camp, he was
tried by court martial for nigger-stealing, condemned and sentenced to be
hanged. The finding of the court martial was forwarded by Col. Scott, to
the department commander, who later acknowledged its receipt and ordered
the colonel to execute the judgment of the court martial. This the colonel
had done, and the man was most properly hanged and buried. Some months
afterwards, however, in the course of routine in the war department, the
original finding of the court martial came back, through regular channels,
to the colonel, with the endorsement of the department, that the sentence of
death was disapproved, and directing that nothing further be done in the
])remises; and, as we understand the matter, nothing further, in fact, was
done in the premises. It was all a part of the fortunes of war, and one vil-
lain had met his deserts, even though the manner of his meeting them was
somewhat irregular.

In the course of time, the 32(1 regiment was relieved from the work of
chasing bushwhackers and catching nigger-stealers, and was reunited and
sent into active cami)aigning. Tlie first of these campaigns however was the
Meridian campaign, in which the six companies only of the regiment saw
their first hard fighting, but they were fortunate in escaping considerable
losses. For this reason therefore, the trials of the march were quite as

244 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

strongly impressed upon those concerned as were the incidents of battle and
Captain Cadwallader, who had gone out in command of Company K, but
who was now regimental chaplain, sent home to his wife a vivid account of
the matter as he saw it. This letter was written from \'icksburg after the
campaign was over and in it he said :

"I can no longer write, as I used to, that the 32d knows but little of the
hardships of the war or the field. We have experienced both. A march by
those on foot of more than 340 miles, carrying knapsack, canteen, haver-
sack, and cartridge-bo.x with fifty or sixty rounds of cartridges with the
musket, resulted in many a blistered foot and wearied frame. Many a man
gave out and had to be hauled. Some nights we traveled until 12 o'clock or
I or even 2 o'clock, snatched a bite of meals, either cooked or raw, or hard
tack if fortunate enough to have it, and down on the ground to sleep, when
perhaps in one hour the bugle would sound and the drums call their weary
limbs again to action — a little coarse-ground, confiscated corn meal without
sifting mixed with some muddy water and the outside burned in the camp
fires or the frying pan, with a tin of boiling cotTee and, if time would pemiit,
some fried meat, all rapidly swallowed and accouterments buckled on ready
to fall in at the first tap of the long roll. After the first w-eek out we were
scarce of bread, the rations from wagons being either one half or one fourth
only of the usual amount issued to soldiers. There was not meal enough
(though the country was scoured for miles by parties sent out to forage) to
supply an army of 30,000 men. There was no lack for meat and good meat
too, fresh smoked hams, shoulders and sides, fresh beef, chickens, ducks,
turkeys, geese and i)igs by thousands. Neither was there any lack of corn
and blades for all the hor.ses.

"We saw but few men. Women and children would beg hard for meal
and meat to be left for their subsistence; but the boys answered, '.As your
niggers are going away, you will not need much.' Some bore to have their
houses sacked and even their bureau drawers without a word, manifesting
either sullen silence or stoical indilTerence, while others would weep an<l
wring their hands.

"I was sent in advance from Canton (on the railroad north of Jackson)
with a train of teams and sick. Well, on the morning of the first of March
at half past three it began to rain almost cold enough to freeze and con-
tinued uiiiil near ten o'clock. The negro teams, being mostly cattle, h.id
been ordered to continue their march all night accomjianied by infan-
try as guards. We had encamped in a low bottom near a little river
which began soon to rise so that new additions to the log and rail
bridges continually being made. The banks were so steep they had to
double team to get out. Their wagons had no covers, and from 17
to 34 children in each wagon on top of their stuff, all drenched, and
yet military law said 'Stop not a moment.' Little children three or four
years ohl were out in the mud, bare headed, bare footed, bare handed and
crying; women being confined, both refugees and negroes, in the wagons

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 245

just as they were; officers ordering men swearing, mules and oxen giving
out and dying; wagons and coniiscated carriages and buggies breaking
down ; add to this scene, 400 sick and convalescent soldiers, either crowded
into wagons on loads of corn or wet and shivering around a fire almost ex-
tinguished by the pelting rain. Many will never recover from the effects of
that morning; a number have since died; of the number is Geo. Pearson of
Company K, 32d. He died in the wagon at 9 o'clock p. m. The same night
at II o'clock when I had just begun to sleep, I was sent for to get a detail
and bury him, and also a soldier from the 58th Illinois. I never witnessed
so much sorrow in any month of my life as in that dismal forenoon."

THE RED RIVER EXPEDITION.

Returning by a roundabout course from the Meridian expedition, the
regiment was finally united and was sent down the river, and with the
rest of the Sixteenth Corps under General A. J. Smith was assigned tem-
porarily to service with the army of General Banks for the Red River cam-
paign. This campaign was probably one of the most inglorious in which
any Union army engaged during the war; and the fact that, in the most
important engagement of the campaign, the 32d Iowa and the Iowa Brigade
of which it was a part, rendered the most trying service on field of battle
that was rendered by any command during that campaign, and did all that
soldiers can do to hold their lines with success against superior numbers,
themselves embarrassed by incompetent generalship and bad disposition of
supporting troops, is one of the facts such as have to be recorded some-
times in war, and the rewards of which have to be, in a large part, the
satisfaction of duty heroically done.

What was the real purpose of the Red River campaign has never been
made entirely clear to the historian and commentator of the Civil war. It
was a campaign across Lxjuisiana, on the line of the Red River, its apparent
objective being Shreveport in the northwestern part of that state. It was
an expedition into the enemy's country, but it threatened no strategic point,
and could not, if successful, have any other effect than the reduction or
destruction of his supplies. Such supplies, however, were west of the Mis-
sissippi, which river was already "held, from its source to its mouth, by the
Union forces, was patrolled by gunboats, and subject to be crossed by the
rebels only by stealth. Supplies from that quarter, therefore, could not be
made to reinforce, to any extent, the rebel armies against which the forces
of Grant and Sherman were then battling in Virginia and Tennessee. Be-
ing in the nature of a side expedition, the effects of the Red river campaign
could only be temporary ; and that a considerable army should have been
thus employed, at a time when it might have been used in cutting the main
body of Confederates into smaller bodies, has always been a matter of
wonderment. As a matter of fact, the expedition resulted unsatisfactorily.
It was a joint expedition of army and navy, the navy being represented by

246 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

a squadron of river boats untler command of Admiral Porter, and wlien
the army retreateil. there was much of difficuUy about getting the steam-
boats back down the ri\cr. One or two of tlieni, in fact, (Hd not get back,
but, notwithstanding an exceptional low stage of the river, some lumber-
men from Wisconsin with the Western army, put to use their logging ex-
perience and built temporary dams, the opening of which made a flood
which carried the most of the boats safely down the river. This escape of
the gunboats was after the battle of Pleasant Hill, which was the turning
point of the exi)edition.

Prior to that battle, however, and yet more notably after it, there had
been manifest one result of the expedition, which has been variously sus-
jjectcd to have been its real objective, although no one would ever wish to
make such confession. This result was that a large amount of cotton was
gotten out of the Red river country and down to the Mississippi, whence
it could be shipijcd to cotton mills in the north. The time was that periotl
of war. wlicn the cutting oft' of traffic between the north and south had
made the price of cotton in the north exceedingly high, and the cotton itself
in the south a drug in the market where it was raised. Under such condi-
tions, it was a very great favor to the rebels of a mercenary turn, to have
some channel througii which their cotton could get out of the Confederacy,
and it was a corresponding favor to the cotton spinners of the north to have
some means by wliicli they could get cotton to their mills, l-'roni such
conditions, there was jjossiblc an immense ])rofit for those officers who were
able and willing in their relations to tiie expedition to mix their military
and business affairs; and from tlii^ circuni-tance. tliere bang> and always
will hang over the Red river expedition a certain cloud of scandal, which
was quite as unfortunate as was any of the bad generalship in the field.

But neither in the scandal nor in the bad leadership did the western con-
tingent of the army have any share. .\ prominent western officer who was un-
fortunately only third in rank in the expedition, was C.en. A. ]. Smith, who
was distinctly a fighter and a commander of much capacity and was exceed-
inglv admired and trusted by the Iowa soldiers under his command. He re-
fused to take cotton aboard his transports, and his feelings at the unwarranted
retreat from Pleasant Hill and the ensuing failure of the expedition, ex-
cepting as iieitains to cotton and finance, were so pronounced that it is
well authenticated that he deliberately proposed to Gen. Franklin, who
was second in rank in the expedition, that Gen. Pianks. the commander of
the expedition, be put under arrest ; that Franklin assume command of the
army ; that Smith and his command should support I-Vanklin in such as-
sumption, and tiiat together they should then attack the enemy whom they
would, no doubt, defeat. Franklin said that such |)roposaj was mutiny and
did not accept the suggestion, but that such a proposal should have been
made by an officer so capable and res|X)nsibIe as Gen. A. J. Smith, is
enough to justify the ,^2(1 Iowa and Shaw's P.rigadc of which it was a part,
in any or all of their comi)laints over their treatment at Pleasant Hill.

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 247

The battle of Pleasant Hill was fought on the 9th of April, 1864, late
in the afternoon. The Union army had been repulsed in an engagement the
day before at Mansfield, and had fallen back to Pleasant Hill. Here it
took what was, in part at least, a good position, and awaited the attack!
of the rebels under Genera! Dick Taylor, who appears to have been as
little affected by the cotton interest and as much in favor of a real fight as
was Gen. A. J. Smith of the Union side.

Of the Union line, the central position was held by Col. W. T. Shaw's
brigade of Smith's division. This brigade consisted of the 24th Missouri
and 14th, 27th and 32d Iowa regiments, the last named being on the left of
the brigade. Beyond this brigade, to the left and too far beyond, was the
tlivision of Gen. Dwight, an eastern officer, who appears to have been a
favorite with Banks, but who. at the time of the battle of Pleasant Hill,
appears further to have been in a condition quite unfit for the responsibilities
upon him. His forces were so disposed as to leave a considerable gap
between them and Shaw's brigade; and when Shaw, with considerable diffi-
culty made him understand the matter, he promised to send a regiment
to fill the gap, but did not do so. When the rebels charged, the Shaw brigade
stopped them effectively, but they passed through the gap, to the left of
the 32d Iowa, and swung around in the rear. The position of Shaw's brigade
with the rebels in front and on their flank and in their rear, became in-
creasingly difficult, but they held their position until the brigade was ordered
back to form on the second Union line through which no gaps had yet
been afforded to the rebels. In accordance with this command, the 24th
Missouri fell back, the 27th Iowa did so, and the 14th Iowa, all of which
regiments, and especially the last, had already met great losses in the
engagement, but had distinct])' held their ground ; but the 32d Iowa was
oft' a little too far to the left to get the command to fall back when it was
passed down the line, and the officer who was sent with the order was killed
before he delivered his message. So the 32d, not being ordered back, staid
where it was. and Col. Scott was left to get his command out of its isolated
]josition the best he could. Lieutenant-Colonel Mi.\. and one after another
of the other officers had been killed. The companies on the right had some
of them been swept Iiack when the 14th Imva fell back, and it was a nuich
disorganized and broken bod\' of men who still had left the choice of cut-
ting their way out through the rebel lines or of surrendering. Apparently
the rebels who had gone on and attacked the second Union line had been
so abundantly occupied by that line that their o]iportunity to give to the
remnant of the 32d the attention which they might otherwise have given,
was limited ; so the breaking out for the 32d was not impossible, and the
regiment started to the left. In this movement, a fallen tree in the way
divided the regiment once more, and the remnants of Companies H and
K were thus separated from the others. It thus became very much a free
for all fight to get through, and very nuich, everyone for himself, and
Comrade Silas See says that when they did get through and back, and out

248 HISTOKY UF STURV CUUXTV

of the fight, he was the only one actually with Capt. Wheeler of Company
K; but other troops came in in squads, and the companies reformed after
a fashion, and in the gathering dusk, Col. Scott led the remnant of his
regiment hack to the Union line.

As a matter of fact, the rebel army had been defeated in the final en-
gagement; and those who, in the position of the 32d survivors, had seen
the actual condition of the rebels at the end of the battle, knew that the
rebels were defeated and retreating; but the truth that Pleasant Hill had
been a Union victory did not penetrate to Banks' headquarters. Accord-
ingly, in the night, the army was ordered back, and the survivors of the
32d and of the other regiments of Shaw's brigade, were not so much as
permitted to return to the abandoned field to bury their dead and gather
up their wounded. This conclusion of the battle was attended with in-
tense grief and humiliation by the men who had held the line against su-
perior numbers and had broken through the surrounding lines of their enemy.
The injustice of being ordered, under such circumstances, to retreat was
never forgotten nor forgiven ; and when the promotion to the brigade gen-
eralship, which was certain to come to some colonel in the brigade, was
not awarded to the colonel of the regiment that had held the line to the
end, but to another colonel of another regiment that had done well, but
that had achieved less distinction and suffered smaller losses, the 32d felt
that its disappointments were multiplied. The loss of the 32d in this en-
gagement, was variously reported as 210, 215 and 220 out of a total of
about 500 men engaged. It was an awful fight such as one regiment rarely
goes through but once in one war.

After the return of Banks' anny down the Red river to the vicinity of
the Mississippi, the 32d Iowa was quite actively engaged for a time on
general guard duty to keep the rebels from coming too close to the big
river ; but soon the regiment went up the river by boat to \'icksburg and
thence was sent with many other regiments on a hasty chase after the
rebel General Forrest, who was raiding in northern Mississippi and in Ten-
nessee. The 32d marched from \'icksburg by way of Jackson to Tupelo
near the northeast corner of Mississippi, at which place Forrest was caught
and his command badly broken uj). In this fight at Tupelo the 2d cavalry
with Company B. another of the especial Stor)- County companies, was
engaged.

Marching back to Vicksburg, the 32d was shipped by boat Co St. Louis,
whence it marched across Mi.s.souri and back in a chase after the rebel
General Sterling Price. Then another steamboat trip took the regiment
up the Cumberland to Nashville in time to join in the three-days' fight that
destroyed Hood's army. From Nashville the 32(1 marched across the coun-
try to Eastport, Mississippi, which is on the Tennessee river and within
a few miles of Tupelo, where the regiment had fought a few- months be-
fore and whence it had made a very wide circuit. Here the regiment started
to build quarters in which to sjjcnd the rest of the winter; but before the

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 249

quarters were done, new orders came and the regiment boarded a steam-
boat that took it from Eastport down the Tennessee and Ohio to Cairo,
thence down the Mississippi, past New Orleans, to the gulf and along the
coast to Dolphin Island at the mouth of Mobile bay.

Thus the 32d, marching up the east side of the bay, entered upon its last
campaign. It was a campaign whose purpose was to conclude the work
which Farragut so well begun when he pushed the Union fleet by the forts
at the lower end of the bay and defeated and destroyed the rebel squadron
inside. The occupancy of New Orleans and the other points along the
Mississippi by the Union army and Sherman's victories about Atlanta and
his march to the sea, had left Mobile as the principal point of what was
left of the Confederacy in that portion of the south, and the strong de-
fenses remaining to Mobile were Spanish Fort and Fort Blakely. These
posts the rebels held with a desperation pertaining to the last ditch fight;
and though the Union army besieged them in numbers, of white and colored
troops together, sufficient to make the outcome of the campaign as certain
as any movement can be, yet the rebels offered a defense that made the cam-
paign one of the most difficult of the successful campaigns of the war.
The Union army besieged the rebel posts, approaching as close as was
possible by the usual methods of conducting a siege, and in the end, as-
saulted. The assault on Spanish Fort was made on the 8th of April, 1865,
and that on Ft. Blakely on the 9th. The remnants of the 32d Iowa were
engaged at Spanish Fort and in the thick of the fight at Ft. Blakely, and
their victory at the latter point finished their service against organized op-
position. This battle was on the afternoon of the day, on the morning of
which Lee had surrendered to Grant at Appomattox, and the two events
together marked the close of the war. Afterwards there was some service
in chasing the remaining disorganized bands of rebels and in restoring
order; but the 32d soon returned home with the other victorious troops,
and Company K was welcomed back to Story County with all possible
enthusiasm.

CHAPTER XXIV.

IIUMI'. AI-I-AIRS IX WAR TLME.

During the years from 1861 to 1865, the thought, attention and energies
of the people of Story County were directed chiefly to matters concerning
the war and concerning those who were at the front. But there were other
interests. First and foremost was the matter of the railroad. In spite of
all of the difficulties concerning the railroad construction in war time, the
work of the railroad convention in Cedar Rapids in 1859 had heen so well
done, and the organization of the Cedar Rapids and Missouri River Railroad,
under the patronage of the Chicago. Iowa and Nebraska Railroad had been so
fortunate and liad commended itself so well to the people of the counties
along the line (if the ]iropo.sed railroad from Cedar Rapids westward, that
the work of railroad construction did. in fact, progress. The Chicago. Iowa
and Nebraska road was com])leted to Cedar Rapids, and the Cedar Rapids
and Missouri River Raihdad jiroceeded to build westward. The railroad
finally reacheil Nevada on an ever memorable Fourth of July, 1864. It
was extended in 1865 to Boone, and on the last day of 1866 it reached
Council Bluffs, being the first railroad from east to west to be c()mi)lcted
across the state of Iowa.

Other matters of the time included some more building in the town of
Nevada and growth over the county; also there was a gradually increasing
intensity of the struggle in Nevada between the north and south sides of
the .Slough. The lilcs of the local ]ia]ier in tliat time indicate among other
things that there was much real trouble over the question of fuel. .Ap-
parently the timber which the jjcojjle wanted to use for fuel was getting
scarce, and the fashion which became current some ten years later, after
barb wire had come into vogue, had not yet found approval, to-wit : That
of burning u]) fence rails for fuel; so we find in the current discussion of
that time quite a lot on the subject of peat, and the idea seems to have
been seriously entertained that it might be possible to keep Iowa warm
with ])eat, in spite of blizzards such as in these later years. Iowa people
know nothing of. Another matter that for the time excited the very great-
est local interest was the discovery that a murder had been committed on
the borders of the village of Nevada, the body of the victim buried and
his property g<>iie with the murderer. In time, the murderer was arrested.

250

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 251

brought back for examination, sent for trial to Cedar Rapids, convicted and
sent to the penitentiary. Also in the early morning of January i, 1864. in
the midst of the worst blizzard that the northwest lias probably ever known,
the court house was burned ; and from this event there grew controversies
that never entirely died out, while the men concerned were politically active.

The politics of this time seems to have been really of less moment in
a local sense than the politics of almost any other time in the county. Doubt-
less, the reason for this is that so large a proportion of the men who might
naturally have been e.xpected to engage in politics were absent with the
army ; and. at the same time, those who remained at home were sufficiently
interested in the war so that they were able to reconcile and compromise
their differences over matters at home. By this, it is not to be understood
that there was no politics ; for the line of division between the democratic
and republican parties was probably at this time deeper and better defined
than at any other time ; but the controversies were over the state of the
Union, and the suppression of the rebellion, and the status ^of the negro,
rather than over local concerns. Of the bitterness of this national issue,
it is quite impossible for one of the later generation to have any just con-
ception; but the controversy was of such order that, years afterwards, it
was apparent to one who came as a youth into the community that the old-
timers who had been strong for the Union still had and wanted very little
if anything to do with the old-timers whom they rated as "copperheads,"
or who, as they themselves understood it. had been desiring the restora-
tion of the Union as it was.

Expressive of this controversy was the publication of the paper known
as the Nevada Democrat. This paper was published by E. B. Potter, who
at the time was the leading democrat of the county, the manifest purpose
of the publication being, not to secure a revenue from it, but to have an
avenue for the public expression of political opinions. This paper was
published on the lot where the compiler of this history has lived for many
years ; the fact somewhat suggesting that different sorts of politics may. at
dift'erent times, come from the same quarter. We do not know that any
copy of this paper is still in existence, and its republican contemporary
managed to get along without quoting from it extensively or referring to it
very much. Hearsay testimony, however, is all to the effect that it was
conducted with both vigor and frankness, whether its sentiment, in the view
of historical events, could be justly recorded as patriotic or not. Not for
the purpose of reviving bitterness, but because the controversy is a part
of the history of the county, we will quote on this subject from the letter
elsewhere mentioned, of Captain George Child, written from Ft. Pillow,
Tennessee, in March, 1863, to W. G. Allen of Nevada. Captain Child
expressed the soldier view of the matter, and he said : "You ask me what
I think of the self-trumpeter of the Nevada Democrat. Well. I have this
to say : It is one of the most contemptible sheets I ever saw, and I think
the rebels that are in arms are gentlemen in comparison with the editor

252 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

of such a paper. I have watched it carefully, and I have yet to see one
word in favor of the Union. Do the democrats endorse that paper as a
general thing? I'.ill McGuire, when he was sending that letter purporting
to be from a soldier from the Second Iowa, said if he had been the editor,
he would not have publislied such a letter as he did." The quarrel is over
and the Union is preserved, but such bits as this are necessary if we are
to understand what was in the minds of people who lived in the time of
the Civil war.

The most strenuous politics of the Civil war period seems to have per-
tained to choice of members of the General .\ssembly. In 1861, Thomas
C. McCall, afterwards repeatedly a member of the General Assembly from
Story County, was the republican nominee for representative, and was
elected after a vigorous contest over issues of the war, the majority being
much increased from the dozen or so of two years before. At this time
Col. Scott was a hold-over member of the senate, and the district not be-
ing regarded as safely republican, because of the democratic proclivities of
Boone County and because of the absence of soldiers in the war; it was
the republican suggestion that he continue to hold his senatorship, not-
withstanding his service in the field at the same time as lieutenant colonel
of the Third Iowa Infantry. In the ultimate, however, it was held by the
state senate that such duplicate service was not allowable, and the sena-
torial seat was declared vacant. Accordingly a special election was called
in mid-winter of 1862, the candidates being John L. Dana of Nevada,
former representative, and E. B. Potter before mentioned. It was a poor
time for getting out the vote, but in this matter, the democrats were the
more active, and Potter was elected. The republicans, however, retained
a working majority in the state senate, and it does not appear that this
local democratic success had any effect furlhcr than to accentuate the local
quarrels before suggested.

In the next legislative election, that of 1863, the republicans elected
both senator and representative for this district. The senator was H. C.
Henderson of Marshalltown, afterwards for a number of years district
judge in this judicial district. The nominating convention was held at
Nevada, the district being composed of Marshall, Story and Boone Coun-
ties. Boone and Marshall Counties both had candidates, and, between them.
Story chose the Marshall candidate, who was accordingly nominated and
elected. In this same year, Geo. M. Maxwell of Cambridge came to the
fore as the representative of Story County. Mr. Maxwell was a pioneer
of notable ability and force. lie was a fluent speaker and a very effective
campaign debater. Prior to the war. he h^d been a very keen spokesman
of the democrat party, and in .\pril, 1X58, he had. upon the nomination of
tiiat party, been elected the first county sui)erintendent of schools. The
outbreak of the war caused a very considerable break in the democratic
party; and while some democrats, with the views of Mr. Potter and others,
continued with increasing bitterness their opposition to the Lincoln admin-

[i«a7l

NEVADA CEMET?:KY

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 253

istration and policies, yet many others like Mr. Maxwell, followed Logan
and other conspicuous antebellum democrats into the republican organiza-
tion, and gave their support to the prosecution of the war to the fullest
possible extent. Such democrats in that time found most cordial welcome
in the republican party, and the spirit of this welcome was locally manifest
in the early nomination of Mr. Maxwell as representative in the General
Assembly. Story County had at this time become entitled to elect a re-
presentative by itself, its last joint representative having been Rosenkrans
of Hamilton County, who was elected in 1859, and Mr. McCall having been
in 1861 the first representative of this county alone. McCall had in the
meantime gone into the army as quartermaster of the 32d Infantry Regi-
ment, and it thus came about that the succession fell easily to Mr. Max-
well. Mr. Maxwell proved to be a very capable representative, and he not
only upheld the policy of raising troops and spending money to put down
the rebellion, but he also did much to promote the success of the supremely
important local enterprise, to-wit : the construction of the Cedar Rapids
and Missouri River Railroad.

Possibly the most interesting poHtical incident of this period, which
is not to be regarded as important, pertained to the efforts of his friends
to get D. P. Ballard of Howard township into county office. Mr. Ballard
was a very bright young man, a son of Dr. Closes Ballard of Howard town-
ship, a school teacher and lawyer and one possessed of many qualities that
ought to have gotten him along well in the world. In 1858 he had been
the republican nominee for county clerk, but had been beaten by 20 votes,
the county not yet having turned republican. Early in the first year of
the war, he had been elected county superintendent, but in a short time
he resigned to go to the war as first lieutenant of Company A of the 23d
Iowa, in which company he later became captain. His popularity at home
increased with his service in the field, and in 1864 he was again nominated
for county clerk. Following this nomination, E. G. Day, who had been
holding the office, resigned to take a position with Capt. McCall in the
quartermaster's department, and John M. Brainard, then editor of the Story
County ^gis (now the Representative) was appointed to the place. After-
wards Captain Ballard wrote home indicating that he would not be able
to get out of the army to accept the position, and the republican convention
was re-convened to make a new nomination. In the meantime, however,
some other advice was received, and the convention confirmed the previous
nomination of Ballard. Ballard was accordingly elected, but when in the
following January the time came for qualifying for the office, he was still
in the field and unable to get his resignation as captain accepted ; so a new
vacancy was declared and Mr. Brainard again appointed. In the summer
of 1865, a new nomination for the vacancy was to be made; but in the
meantime the boys had come home from the war, and by almost common
consent, the nomination was given to a young veteran, whose qualifications
were undoubted and whose record excited much admiration, and thus it

Vol. 1—17

254 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

was that J. A. l-'itclipatrick entered upon his long period of county service,
while the efforts of Ballard's friends to get him into the court house were
finally remitted.

WAR-TI M li N KWSPAPERS.

Concerning the newspapers in this period of the war, mention ha^; been
made of the Nevada Democrat, but that paper was not very long continued.
With this exception, the one paper in the county was the original paper which
had been started early in 1837 by R. R. Thrall as the Story County .Ad-
vocate, and which he in icS62 had sold to George Schoonover. It was the
fashion in those days apparently that newspaper men when they bought
a paper, which was something of frequent occurrence among them, for the
reason that they seem to have bought and sold quite readily, to change the
name of the paper. "Advocate" had been a good name to start with, but
it was by no means spirited enough for so enthusiastic an upholder of
the war as was Mr. Schoonover. who therefore mixed both political and
military affairs in the name of "Republican Reveille." In November, 1863,
Schoonover in turn sold to John M. P.rainard. whose choice for a name
for the paper proved to be ".Egis." Prior to this latter transfer, the files
of the ])ai)er for war time are very imperfect.

Schoonover, after retiring from the jiaper went into the army, returned
home in broken health, was elected county recorder and died within three
months afterward>. Thrall went to Ivansas, and was not much beard
from in this part of the country afterwards. He appears to have stayed
out of the newsiiajicr business when he was out, and to have gone to
farming under conditions that were hard. .About the only further knowl-
edge of a definite order that we have of him is contained in a letter
of his, dated at Elizabethtown, .\nderson County, Kansas. June 10.
1869, in which letter be wrote .McCall and Thompson of Nevada that
"Southern Kansas did not raise enought to bread its inhabitants last season,
an«l nearly everyone in buying corn and flour, wagoned from the Missouri
river. Corn is very scarce at $1.50 per bushel. Corn is used here for
bread in about the same proportion that wheat is in Iowa. How would
you like to live on the change? 1 am getting used to it. The drouth was
the cause of the failure. I ratiur think that there is a failure on 9/10 of
the farms two vears out n\ tlucc lure in Kansas. Wlu-rc 1 live, we have
had better luck than some other neighborhoods, judging from the way they
come and beg for corn. 1 have to buy my corn witli the rest. Stock
raising pays here. Money will readily bring 20';^ interest. I have known
parties to fail to get it at above rate that could give good security for
the investment, with interest payable every six months."

Mr. Brainard still lives at Boone, where for many years, he i)ublished
the Boone Standard, and is now curator of the Ericson library. So far
as we know or have any reason to iKlieve. he is the only newspaper man
who ever undertook to call a newspaper by the name of "^Egis." He still

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 255

keeps in touch with the paper which he once pubhshed, and once, in later
years, when the origin of the name came up for information and inquiry,
he furnished the following explanation : "See Brewer's Dictionary of
Phrase and Fable. "^-Egis — The shield of Jupiter, made by \ulcan, was
so called and sympolizes divine protection. The shield of Minerva was
called an .-Egis ; also Jupiter was covered with the skin of the goat, Amal-
thaea, and the Greek for goat is in the genitive case, Aigos. The Mgis
made by \'ulcan was of brass. I throw my ^-Egis over you. I give you my
protection. It was war times, and something military was considered de-
sirable, hence the name of the paper.' — John M. Brainard." Outside of the
employment of the word by Mr. Brainard. the one familiar use of it is by
Langdon Drake in his apostrophe to the American Flag, wherein, after
he had had Freedom Personified, "Tearing the Azure Robe of Xight; Set-
ting the Stars of Glory there, and Striping the pure Celestial Light with
Streakings of the Morning Light." he relates as to Freedom further "Then
from his mansion in the sun. She called her ^gis bearer down. And gave
into his trusty hand. This Banner of a Chosen Land."

The .^gis. under Mr. Brainard was all right on war questions and other
matters but the troubles he appears to have had must have been serious.
In one place, it is recorded that the .-Egis was made the official paper for
the publication of the board of supervisors for the compensation of $75
for the year, which does not appear like very large compensation. Again
in the fall of 1864. he had an attack of typhoid fever, and after he, as a
sick man, had struggled with the paper for a while, and the boys in the
office had struggled with it still further, it was suspended for about two
months, until the editor was again really able to take charge. All of this
time it is evident that the fluctuations in the cost of print paper and the
general difficulty of making collections made serious trouble. The price
of the paper fluctuated with the general conditions of the market from
$2 to $3 per year; and when the financial situation became especially
strenuous, it was announced that the paper would not be sent excepting
to subscribers who should have paid in advance. Along about the end of
the war, also there developed, what is among a good many newspaper men.
a standing proposition, to-wit : a movement to take the tarifif off of print
paper. The Chicago Tribune then, as now. was an apostle of this method
of tariff adjustment, but somehow or other it does not appear that the
adjustment was ever made in such a way as to make easy the matter of
publishing newspapers. Of the general conditions of things in Story County
in war time, and of the circumstance of his coming here, with some of
the more significant incidents, Mr. Brainard has, at the solicitation of the
editor, furnished the following brief review:

"At the outbreak of the Civil war in 1861, I had invested the profits of
two tax-lists, received the year before, in a little stock of merchandise at
Clear Lake. Cerro Gordo County, and was getting along swimmingly. With
the firing on .Sumter, the men of that communitv arose like the jrrain-field

256 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

before the winds, as they did all over the land, and the legislature met
and passed an act forbidding suits for collection against the volunteers. So
it was only a matter of time until the sheriff took possession of my stock!
As I had never refused goods to any family of a soldier, and as but few of
them were able to pay, I was out of business in less than two years. In
the early autumn of 1863 I had found a chance to earn a living by the
purchase of Mr. George Schoonover's Nevada 'Reveille' and moving down
from Clear Lake, I took up its publication in "The Alderman Block.'

"The county officers then were E. G. Day, clerk of the court and of the
board of supervisors; T. J. Ross, county treasurer and recorder; L. Q.
Iloggatt, sheriff; E. C. Evans, county judge; and a board of supervisors
composed of one member from each of the eleven townships in Story
County.

"The wooden court house, standing where now is the Lockridgc home-
stead, burned down on the night of December 31, 1863, and what furniture
and records escaped the flames were removed to the room in the .Mderman
block adjoining the printing office, until such time as the burned building
could be re[5laced, which was during the ensuing summer season. In the
spring or early summer of 1864, Capt. T. C. McCall, quartermaster of Col.
John Scott's Thirty-second regiment, asked Mr. Day to come to the front
as his assistant and the county board insisted that 1 assume his duties at
home. This I did reluctantly ; but the position brought me into frequent
contact with the people of Story County. One of my duties was the dis-
tribution of the money raised for the assistance of the wives antl children
of soldiers at the front — 'War Widows' was the popular term for them,
though in fact but few of them were widows. Taxes were jiayable twice
a year, and I i)resume the strict application of the law would have been
to turn over the same as soon as reported 'collected.' But it was soon
discovered that such payments were almost invariably expended and then
for the ensuing si.x months very often 'the wolf was at the do<ir.' So,
Treasurer Ross and myself arranged a program by which the semi-annual
collections were doled out each month, with a reservation for a larger
amount in the fall, when the chil<lrcn would need new shoes, school books
and other articles incident to the coming cold sea.son. That arrangement
was somewhat nuUitied by the women giving orders to the merchaiUs. and
resulting in bare toes when the mother was unable to resist the temptation
of 'crimson calico.' This was met at the court house by 'an order in
council,' refusing to recognize such drafts against tlie treasury, and after-
wards the dealer found he must carry the same until the woman saw fit to
liquidate her debt, which she would usually take ample time to do. All
such decisions at the court house may not have had the warrant of the
statutes, but they saved a great deal of suffering.

"The railway reached Nevada in 1864, it being the practice then to
build only .some thirty miles each season — in 18O5 it reached Boone and
the next year Jefferson. In that year I made my first trip upon a railway

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 257

in Iowa, going to visit my parents at Beloit, Wis. The delight of skim-
ming over the country in a few hours, was in deep contrast with the old
days of the lumbering stage-coach or the mud-wagon. In this kaleidescope
I recall vividly the scenes along the way : women driving the plow or the
reaper, or binding the grain. Hard work, but it was one of their many
contributions to the work of carrying on the war, and eventually putting
down the rebellion. I met last summer, one of those Story County women
at the college celebration on the campus near Ames, and I reverently lifted
my hat to her in memory of the old struggles and the old cheerfulness.

"We shall never know the unwritten work of these loyal, glorious women !
How they wrote encouraging letters to their husbands, brothers, sweet-
hearts at the front. The moral value of such encouragement will never
be fully known and can only be imagined. All the older people recall (and
the younger ones can read it in history,) how often the Union armies met
disaster in the first battles of the great war. But their wives at home,
though cast down, never became despondent and the streams of encourage-
ment by letter did not cease. Let me recall a frequent scene. At Clear
Lake the mail came from Cedar Falls, at first semi-weekly, afterwards
daily. The postoffice was at 'the store,' and the mail route extended
some eighteen miles farther towards the north, and was carried by team.
One daily paper, the Dubuque Times, went to a frontier printing office
north of us. and while the mail was being 'changed' I would draw the
paper from its wrapper, and running a practiced eye over the headings,
I was able to cull the cream of the news. All the women, and many of
the men, gathered in to get the news. When there had been a battle I
would read the names of the fallen, and often a poor woman, with her
little ones clinging to her skirts, would sink to the floor in moaning and
tears, when the loved one was so listed !

"Too often our armies were worsted; but not always. In Nevada, when
the news of the capture of Richmond came, business was suspended. All
the store boxes not under lock and key were gathered on the South square,
and the night was spent in rejoicing. In company with Parson Reid, I
watched it until 'long after the wee, sma' hours,' and it is betraying no
secrets to say that very few of the citizens failed to 'quaff a bumper' to
the boys in blue and the final success of the war. I remarked to my com-
panion that 'the boys were getting pretty full," but he was in sympathy
with the occasion and replied that 'There was a suspension of the rules
by common consent !' I can yet recall some of 'the rejoicers,' but it would
be invidious to mention them. The 'North and South sides' were a bone
of contention for some time. The first business portion of Nevada was
along the north street on the South square, with an overflow of the Mike
Ross hotel and the Sinclair store, respectively, at the west and east ends of
the street. Finally, after the arrival of the railway, the Welton house was
moved to the north side, then the printing office, Briggs built the first

258 HISTORY OF STORY COUXTY

modern store room for his drugs, and soon there was a race for who would
])c in the swim. Some little feeling appeared, but soon all were glad.

"liy the joint efforts of J. L. Dana, who secured the purchase of the lands
for the Agricultural college, James Hawthorne and John A. Hull, who
got the necessary appropriations in the legislature, that magnificent enter-
pri.se, the greatest in the state as I believe, was made permanent. And
yet there is one incident which has never been published, in connection with
the college. After the foundations of the main building were some two
feet above ground the war came on, and the energies of the state were
directed to the raising and equipment of troops, and the college walls
stood still. I was at the time clerk of the board of supervisors, and one
day in April, during their session, Mr. Dana came to me and said that
unless the $10,000 in Story County bonds in aid of the college were re-
newed by act of the supervisors, they would be uncoUectable because the
work had not progressed according to contract when the bonds were voted,
and would I contrive to liave such extension made by the board. I accord-
ingly prepared a resolution in writing, making such extension but witlibeld
it for a fitting opportunity. When the more imjjortant business bad l)een
completed, along in tJic afternoon, the members were preparing to ad-
journ, some were i)utting on their coats, and corn-planting weather was
beckoning them through the windows, and the question was asked, "Is that
all. Mr. Clerk?" and the reply was, 'yes;' but before any one had left the
room, I cried: "Hold on — one little thing more; there is a small formality
in connection with the college bonds which the authorities would like to
have made,' and drawing my slip from the desk rapidly, hurried over its
text. Some one asked: "Is it all right, Mr. Clerk?" and received an affirma-
tive, of course. They voted it without further examination and saved the
college to Story County. A legislature would convene in the fall ; the
farmers were in danger of thinking that the state would not desert the
college location ; Init there was danger of some other county tliscovering the
situation, tendering payment for the work done and despoiling Story of
Iicr prmidcst monument.

"J. .\1. 15."

Along about this time, "I.inkcnsale," who was a pojuilar writer in this
part of the country, had ajjparently come up from Des Moines to Nevada
for the purpose of taking the cars to go to Washington, and he wrote,
to the Iowa State Register, of Xevada as follows: "Nevada is also a
good place, and is remarkable for its handsome women, of which elegant
objects I saw more during my brief stay of four hours than 1 ever saw
in a town of its size during the whole course of my life. I'rainard gets
up a fine Union paper. Col. John Scott was busy on a fine new house.
Hoggatt was sky-larking around as u.sual, and the republicans on the qui
vive generally. It is a first rate town to go to and will be a t,'iMnl cjcal better
after a vear or two.""

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 259

The burning of tlie old court house in the early hours of the year 1864
was the reasonable consequence of excessive fires being kept up from ne-
cessit)' in a time of very extreme cold. It was an awful time so far as
the weather was concerned, a cold wave of very exceptional severity hav-
ing swept all over the western country and far into the south. Soldiers
in the field, who were without protection suitable to extreme cold weather,
suflfered intensely, while in the new country to the northwest, where the
wind had full sweep, great numbers of men, who were caught away from
shelter, perished. How the conditions of that day were impressed on the
minds of men was illustrated on the first day of the present year, when
one old soldier asked another where he was 47 years ago that day, and was
instantly answered, "At St. Louis," with an account of the struggle there
with the cold. To have a fire start in such a time in a country village
was simply to raise the question as to how far it would extend, and Ne-
vada was very fortunate in that the burning court house did not, in fact,
set other buildings afire. It was not a very great court house, but it was
the first building erected for that purpose in the county. It had cost $1,500
in the first year or so of the county's existence and was considered ap-
parently a very good building for the purpose. In the midst of the war,
there seems to have been little disposition to take advantage of the destruc-
tion of the old court house as a reason for building a new and elaborate and
costly one in its place ; but, of course, something had to be done, and what
was done by the board of supervisors was to use again the old foundation
and to contract for the erection thereon of a new building of the same
dimensions as the old one. This arrangement was reducing the cost of
replacement to a minimum; and, in this way, there were accomplished,
results which moved the ^'Egis in the November following to remark that
"the board made a ten-strike in getting that job done at the price of $2,000,
We venture to say $1,500 more would be necessary to secure the con-
struction of such a building now."

This second court house was sold with the half block on which it
stood, when the present court house had been completed in 1877, and it
was soon removed to a lot west of the Opera Hall block, where it stood
for a number of years, and was at one time used for the Watchman print-
ing office, but was ultimately torn down.

At the time the court house was burned, there was in the vault a con-
siderable amount of money belonging to the county and also some belong-
ing to the county treasurer, Mr, T. J- Ross. The currency came through
the fire in a somewhat demoralized condition, but for the most part it was
recognizable. The treasurer took the remnants in his grip sack to Wash-
ington and presentetl them to the treasury department, where they were
closely scrutinized, and, so far as possible, identified and redeemed by the
department. The amount of such redemption was $7,770. This amount did
not balance the sum that was in the safe at the time; but, ultimately the
(lift'erence was prorated between the county and the treasurer and the

20)0 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

state. There was considerable difficulty and delay about getting the state
to bear its share of the loss, but, we understand, it was ultimately done. As
is apt to be the case, however, where there is an undoubted loss which is
to be borne by somebody, it never was entirely satisfactory to the various
parties in interest that a larger share of the loss was not borne by some
one else.

It was along about this time that there found its way into print an
official report, which has, at least once been reprinted since, and which
deserves here to be preserved for all time, as a part of the county record.
It appears in the proceedings of the board of supervisors, and it illustrates
how it is possible to make a record sometimes out of no material, but also
why. for a con.>;iderablc period in the earlier history of the county, there
is found so little of an interesting nature to record as pertaining to the
western part of the county. The record is of an official report from \V. C.
Shockley, well known as old Squire Shockley, of Washington Township,
who held the office of justice of the peace for many years, and wlio found
himself under obligation of law to make complete report of his doings in
office. This he did as follows : "W'ashington Township, Story County,
Iowa. I. \V. C. Shockley, Justice of the Peace of Washington Township,
-Story County, Iowa, report as such Justice of the Peace, in accordance
with Chapter 29 of the Acts of the Ninth General Assembly, that I have
nothing to report. W. C. Shockley, J. P.. Feb'y 16, 1864."

Another incident of the same period pertains to Jerry Marks and his
horse. Jerry was a character in the pioneer community, lived on the Judge
Mitchell place, had a family ; and though he evidently had sympathy in
time of trouble, was highly eccentric. He had been marshal of the day at
the famous Fourth of July celebration on the college campus, in 1859, and
on various other occasions it had been demonstrated that he was a useful
citizen. .So when he lost the horse on whose labors he largely depended
for the support of his family, a paper was passed around, and by evening
another horse stood at the unfortunate man's gate, a free gift to him from
many of the citizens. Jerry was properly appreciative of this generosity ;
but it was not until some time afterwards that the extent to which he could
be moved became apparent ; for he was not readily moved, but was rough
in manners and speech, had lieen a sailor in his early years and was a
tyrant in his home. He was a non-believer in religion and in sundry other
good things ; but one day, as he was coming home on a load of wood, there
arose a prairie fire, which was driven by a whirlwind, and was for a long
time a memorable incident of this locality. The whirling of fire came up
on the west side of the creek and Jerry was not in immediate danger, but
the whirlwind and the awful spectacle together made him think that the
world was coming to its end. and the Judgment Day was upon him. Ac-
cordingly, he g<tt down on his knees on the load of wood and got to pray-
ing. His measure of devotion, which had been so long in making its ap-
pearance, ought to have been apjireciated and commended ; but. probably,

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 261

he backslid tcx) soon for him to get the proper credit from his fellows. He
moved to Kansas afterwards, but returned and died on a farm in Story
County.

THE TOWNSEND MURDER.

On the i/th of October. 18(14, a man who was hunting for prairie chick-
ens or other game, had his attention drawn by something peculiar in a gully
near the ford at the southwest part of Nevada, across West Indian creek,
and, upon investigation, found a nearly but not quite completely buried
body of a man. He at once gave the report and investigation followed.
The body was exhumed, and was, without great difficulty, identified as that
of one of two men who had come this way with a mover's outfit. Photo-
graphs were also taken by Miss Hannah Bixby, now Mrs. R. H. Mitchell,
and this assisted later in finding relatives of the deceased. He proved to
be a man named Townsend, who had been in the far west, and was mak-
ing his way back to the east side of the Mississippi. It appeared later that
his companion was a man named McMullen, and that McMullen had killed
and buried him at their camp by the ford. Thereupon McMullen took the
outfit and drove on eastward, over to Illinois, where he sold the outfit
making very little attempt at concealment; and, in fact, it appears that if
he had buried his victim a little deeper, there might never have been sus-
picion directed to him. The discovery of the body, however, followed so
promptly upon the murder, that the matter was followed up, the team was
easily traced along its route of travel, and the man found to whom Mc-
Mullen had sold it. From then, McMullen was further traced and, in a
very few weeks, brought back to Nevada for arraignment. There was
concerning the actual circumstances of the murder, no information what-
ever, save what McMullen himself told, and what could be inferred from
the conditions and circumstances. According to McMullen's story, the two
had come through together from Idaho. At Omaha, Townsend had laid
in a supply of whisky which supply he replenished from time to time, and
frequent disagreements resulted between them. Arriving at the ford in
Nevada they went into camp, McMullen doing the work and taking his
orders from Townsend, and the latter staying in the wagon, drinking and
becoming quite intoxicated. After a time Townsend came out of the wagon
and began abusing McMullen because he had not made a success of build-
ing a fire; then Townsend pushed over McMullen, who was squatting in a
position easily to be tipped over, and the latter happened to fall upon the
ax, which he picked up and struck Townsend with. Townsend fell and
McMullen walked away, and returning soon after found that Townsend
was dead. Then he was uncertain what to do, but finally buried Townsend
and went on. So far as could be judged from the other circumstances of
the case, McMullen's story might be a true statement of the matter. He
protested that he had never been in trouble before, and upon the whole
he appears to have been able to evoke considerable sympathy. He had used

262 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

a |)art of Tounsend's money to pay off a mortgage on liis farm in Illinois ;
but one could readily believe that if he had been on murder bent, he need
not have come with Townsend from Idaho to Iowa, in order to find a
fair opjjortvmity for such crime. McMullen was taken to Cedar Rapids
for trial and was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to the peni-
tentiary for ten years. Like some other criminal matters that haw hap-
pened in the county, this was one that had nothing to do with the peojile
who belonged here, excepting as they took notice of it, and endeavored to
promote justice. Neither the murderer nor the murdered man had ever
been in the county until the day of the murder, and the fatal (juarrel which
hapi^ened here might just as well have happened anywhere.

CHAPTER XXV.
HOME AFFAIRS IN WAR TIME— (CONTINUED).

THE R.MLROAD.

The great local event of this period was the actual coming of the rail-
road. The railroad convention at Cedar Rapids in 1859, had indeed led to
the successful projection of the road through the central belt of Iowa
counties, but that convention of course, did not determine the exact loca-
tion of the road, nor make it certain that the road would pass through
any particular town. Such towns as Marshalltown and Nevada, Boons-
borough and Jefferson, naturally expected to get it, and, in the end, three
of them did, but Boonsborough did not; and the fact of its failure is illus-
trative of the conditions under which no town was actually sure of the
railroad until the railroad actually came, or binding contracts for its loca-
tion were signed. The management of the railroad surveyed its line
through Nevada, but also surveyed a line two or three miles to the north-
ward, where it is possible they might have been able to find a more favor-
able route across the county ; but, whether the northern route was the better
one or not, it served the purpose which railroad projectors, especially in
the earlier days, never lost sight of. to-wit : of assisting in the collection
of all available bonuses for the location.

In this case, the bonus to be looked after was mainly the swamp lands
of the county. The congressional grant to the state for aid in construc-
tion of the railroad on or near the line of the 42d parallel had, in due
time, been declared forfeited as to the Iowa Central Air Line, and had
been tendered formally to the Cedar Rapids and Missouri River Company;
but, in addition to this grant, there had been conveyed first by the government
to the state, and afterwards by the state to the counties concerned, the
swamp lands that might be in the counties of the state. Story County hav-
ing been in the early days and before the time of tile and up to the time
of tile drainage, more than an ordinarily swampy country, its share of
swamp lands was perhaps more than the ordinary amount ; but, of course,
the county had not yet developed to the point where the higher and more
readily tillable lands were by any means exhausted, and the value that
therefore was put upon the swamp lands, was not very great. Whatever

263

264 HISTORY OF STORY COUXTY

the value of tlie lands may have been, however, the railroad company de-
sired the same, and following the survey north of Nevada it was given to
be understood that if Nevada wanted the railroad, it must induce the
county to convey the swamp lands as consideration therefore. The propo-
sition was regarded much in the nature of a bluff, but the people of Ne-
vada though it wiser not to call the bluff, and the people of the county
sustained them in their position. Accordingly, it was agreed that if the
county should convey the swamp lands, the railroad would locate its depot
within a thousand yards of the court house; and the question being sub-
mitted to the people of the county, they by a large majority voted to make
the grant.

Besides this grant, there was a demand, for reasons not quite so clearly
understood, for a cash donation from the business men of Nevada, and
the urgency of this demand was also such that the subscription was circu-
lated and liberally signed. In due time accordingly, the railroad came.
After its arrival, demand was made upon the county for the performance
of its contract as to the conveyance of the swamp lands. The board of
supervisors having, in the meantime, gotten the railroad to Nevada, did not
care about completing the contract ; but the matter was in sufficiently definite
a shape, so that its completion could not be avoided, and in due time the
railroad got the swamp lands, and the same were conveyed by the rail-
road to the Iowa Railroad Land Company, which had its headquarters in
Cedar Rapids, and out of which those who were on the inside of the rail-
road proposition are supposed to have made very considerable fortunes.
For many years afterwards, the company ran advertisements in the local
papers, describing the lands of this grant, that were for sale in the county ;
but in the course of about twenty years, tlie lands were all disposed of and
the advertisements discontinued, but not until the lands had been disposed of.

As to the donation, however, there ai)i)cars to have been better luck for
those who would be glad to avoid payment of the donation which was very
much in the nature of a hold-up. As Mr. Sam Statler tells the story : The
subscription paper was in the possession of Mr. Hawthorn, who was then
the local director of the railroad, and was also Mr. Statler's employer. On
one occasion, Mr. S. S. Webb, who was elected county clerk of the county
in 1858 and died in Texas during the present year of 191 1, and who was
interested in the matter of the subscription, came to Mr. Statler, who was
m charge of the office, and wanted that subscription paper. Later on, the
pajjcr was looked for and Webb referred to ; but somehow the paper never
showed up. and the subscriptions were never collected.

As for the work of construction it progressed very much as such work
is supposed to progress. Marshalltown was reached in 1863. and in the
spring of 1864. the work was pushed to Colo, which was, for a time, head-
quarters of the advance work. Then it was pushed on towards Nevada.
As the last weeks in June came, the local interest in the matter increased,
and was weekly reported by the .-Egis. At one time, the editor could hear

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 265

the whistle ; at another, he could see what he called the "bulgine," and finally,
on the 4th day of July, the country hereabout celebrated by going down
to the north side of town and seeing the construction train come in. In a
very short time thereafter, the regular train service was established at
Nevada.

The year following the completion of the road to Nevada was the busiest,
locally, that ever had been known in this community, and perhaps that ever
has been known here. The very material fact was that Nevada had be-
come the terminal of railroad transportation from the east for traffic to
the far west. The Union Pacific had already been begim, and was working
west from Omaha ; but its eastern connection was by steamboat on the
Missouri river, and not by railroad across Iowa. It would seem that the
railroad might have been pushed on readily from Nevada to some point
farther west, during that same year of 1864; but for reasons not ap-
parent at this distance, the further construction was not pushed rapidly,
and Nevada was permitted to be the terminal for the rest of that year.
Forthwith, the railway was organized as the Chicago, Iowa & Nebraska,
and the local editor published acknowledgement of the fact that he had a
railroad pass, which he used with evident satisfaction on his first trip to
Marshalltown. More important to the community in general, the Western
Stage Company inaugurated regular service of tri-weekly stages to De-
catur, Nebraska, while about the same time, a daily mail service was estab-
lished between Nevada and Des Moines.

These two arrangements together were fine for Nevada, and were also
a great institution for Des Moines and Decatur. Des Moines, from this
start continued to grow and has since become quite a city, but one has to
consult the index of the map to find out where Decatur now is. As a
matter of fact, it is on the west side of the Missouri river, nearly opposite
Onawa. In the shuffling of railroad construction it failed to get a deal
closer than ten miles, and it passed out of its glories when the stage service
was discontinued, and the Missouri river failed longer to count in matters
of transportation. At Nevada, the idea of the railroad management was
to build up a business center in the northeastern part of town. Blair's Addi-
tion and the Blair Town Lot and Land Company addition were both laid
out in the vicinity of the railroad, and the station was located on the east
side of what is now Pine street in that immediate locality. Here there
were barns for the stage service and most of the establishments of one sort
or another that are incidental to the general transfer from rail to wagon
travel. The understanding has been that the merchants who were at that
time engaged in Nevada in the sale of general merchandise got rich rapidly
in the furnishing of outfits to departing emigrants. What this traffic meant
is faintly suggested by a paragraph in the ^gis at the end of the following
matter, in which under the head of "Another Western Train," it is reported
that "a train of wagons, loaded with gold mining machinery, bound for
Denver City or thereabouts, which has been fitting out under the manage-

266 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

nient of Captain Uradford for some weeks past, started on Thursday last.
It was a source of considerable amusement to ourselves and others to wit-
ness the performance of getting under way, where both mules and drivers
were essentially green to their duties. The captain and his men. most all
of whom were from Boston, have made many friends by their gentlemanly
course, so much so in contrast with some other trains which have started
from this point."

Of course, the business of outfitting for the far west was discontinued
here as soon as the railroad was completed to Boone, or "Montana," as the
new town was then called on the prairie this side of Boonsborough ; but the
railroad company did not attempt to establish any intermediate terminal
between these two points, and all of the terminal traffic was done here
until the location at Boone was reached ; but while the far western traffic
was tlien suspended, the Des Moines traffic continued for some time longer.
It was not until 1866 that a railroad at all reached Des Moines, and when
it (lid reach there, it was the Des Moines \'alley Line and not the direct
line east and west of what is now the Rock Island system; so for two or
three years, the stage traffic between Xevada and Des Moines was very
heavy, and shipments to Des Moines were very largely made to this point.
It was at one time attempted by the railroad, or stage company, to transfer
the Des Moines business from Xevada to Boone, hut this arrangement did
not prove satisfactory, and the stage line was changed back to Xevada,
where it continued to have its connection with the .Xorthwestern until the
construction of the Xarrow Gauge from Des Moines to .Ames occasioned its
discontinuance.

What Xevada ])robably saved for itself by getting the county to back
it in tlic matter of granting the swamp lands in return for the satisfactory
location of the depot at Xevada is illustrated by the occurrence at Boons-
borough. B)Oonsborough was an older town than Xevada. migration up the
Des Moines river having reached the center of Boone County before
there had developed any particular disposition to cross Squaw Fork into
Story ; and the town was in the time of the war a better established town
than was Xevada; although both towns were alike in the fact that neither
of them then had any real rival in its county; but the position of Boons-
borough as the political and business center of Boone County was seem-
ingly so secure that the people there seem to have been governed by the
idea that they did not need to meet the demands of the railroad for do-
nations in return for local favors ; as the people of Xevada had lo meet
the similar demands. The survey of the railroad carried the line directly
along the north side of the village of Boonsborough, about where the people
of the village would prefer to have it, and the most favorable crossing
of the Des Moines river upon a high grade from the bluff on one side
to the bluff on the other, was almost ilirectly west from Boonsborough; so
Boonsborough refused to make the desired concessions.

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 267

After this refusal, John I. Blair, who was the great capitalist of New
Jersey, and was putting his money into the building of the west, and who
was the directing spirit with regard to the construction of what is now
the Northwestern Railroad, came out to Boone to look over the situation.
Blair had an idea of economical construction as well as of the gathering
in of donations for location ; and accordingly he had the line radically
changed, the same being turned near where it reached Honey creek, east
of Boonsborough and made to follow the creek to the Des Moines river
bottoms. A gully made by a similar creek was found on the other side
of the river, and thus the crossing of the river was effected by a very
much cheaper bridge than would have been necessary at the higher cross-
ing west of Boonsborough. As a matter of railroad engineering, this
change of program was probably quite as unfortunate for the Northwestern
Railroad as it was for the village of Boonsborough ; for, after operating
upon the steep grades and many curves of the line down to and out of
Aloingona, the Northwestern Railroad went back to the original line and
built its million dollar crossing of the Des Moines river between Boone
and Ogden ; but this far belated return of the railroad to its original line
was of only very incidental benefit to Boonsborough. The railroad located
its terminal and permanent depot out at the turn in the line near Honey
creek, and proceeded to lay out there a new town. The people of Boons-
Ixjrough smiled for a time, but the new town soon got ahead, become the
city, and in later years has annexed Boonsborough as its fifth ward.

Nevada, in 1864 could not have withstood a commercial assault such as
was made upon Boonsborough by the Northwestern; and, while it does not
appear that by changing the line two or three miles to the northward, there
could have been any such saving of expense as was made for the time
being in the change at the Des Moines river crossing; yet, in the laying out
of a new town in some favorable locality, there would have been a specu-
lation in town lots ; and the numerousness of Blairs' .\dditions in nearly all
of the towns along the line of the Northwestern Railroad is evidence of the
fact that the railroad management was fully alive to the advantage of such
town lot speculation. The price for the railroad may have been high, but
Nevada had to pay it ; and the town was distinctly fortunate in being able
to get the county to make the principal payment in the swamp land dona-
tion, and finally to get out of the rest of the payment through the disap-
pearance of the subscription paper.

Up to the time when the railroad reached Nevada and for several months
thereafter the traffic, such as it was, over the line, was embarrassed by
the crossing of the Mississippi at Clinton, where there was as yet no bridge
and where the transfer had to be made in summer by ferry, and in winter
over the ice, if the ice would bear it, and it is not stated how, when
the ice would not bear it. In January, 1865, however, it was announced
that the Northwestern bridge at Clinton was open, and from that time
Story County has had an all-rail connection with the east. The bridge

268 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

opening was welcomed with evidences of local enthusiasm, and for a time
the idea seemed to obtain that serious troubles on the subject of transporta-
tion were over.

THE FINANCIAL QUESTION.

The influence of national finance on local conditions in the war, de-
serves some attention. The government in carrying on the war resorted
to about every means that was legitimate and to some that were of doubt-
ful constitutionality. Stamp taxes were resorted to in very numerous ways ;
but as to the income tax, which was a direct burden upon those persons
of sufficient income to bring them within the classification of the law. there
happens to be a definite statement showing how many people were hit and
in what amounts. The statement suggests not so much that the tax was
a considerable public burden in these parts, as it does the general fact that
in war time this was still a community of very moderate incomes. Alto-
gether there were forty-one persons, in February, 1865, against whom
charges were made for income ta.x and the charges so made were as follows :

Jas. Hawthorn, $64; Otis Briggs, $12; F. M. Baldwin. $151; Judiah
Ray, $127.51 ; Wm. Yarnall, S20; John Richardson. S18; M. D. Livingston,
$28.08; Oliver Chamberlain, $10.40; John Severson, $4; Joseph Seals &
Sons, $24; Wm. I'.. Hopkins, $11.72; Thomas Hughes, $32; John H. Keig-
ley, $32; J. B. Groves, $22; P. F. Jones. ?8; M. D. Sheldon. $16; Olc Ap-
land, $13.50; Milo McCartney, $54; Jacob Erb. $8: John Pearson, $5.14;
T. E. Alderman, $15.60; J. H. Sinclaire, $200; W. K. Wood, $60; George
X. Kirkman, $40; J. D. Gamble, $10; Daniel F. Shope, $12; Chas. Ilogan,
$8.50; George Dye, $8; Isaac L. Miller, $19.60; O. Hambleton. $28; Bald-
win & Co. $140.80; Charles Wells, $13.36; A. L. Groves, $31.20; Sereno
Adams, $280; James Wills. $8; Dwight Fenn, $80; John Scott, $83.80;
Thomas McCal'l, $42.75; George Qiild, $31.85; D. P. Ballard, $34.80; J.
Cadwallader, $42; total revenue, $1,589.41. But troubles about stamp taxes
and income taxes were insignificant, at least with respect to the newsjiaper
attention they invited, in comparison with the disturbance occasioned by
the fluctuations in the value of the currency. These fluctuations were meas-
ured by the quotations of the price of gold on the New York stock ex-
change. And the quotations were influenced from time to time both by the
increasing volume of irredeemable greenbacks that were issueil by the gov-
ernment, and by the varying fortunes of the war. The depreciation of the
greenbacks and the quotation of gold reached their maximum in the sum-
mer of 1864 when Grant had fought his way from the wilderness to City
Point without taking Richmond or crushing Lee, when Sherman had made
his way at very heavy expense dov.n the line of the Georgia Central Rail-
road without crushing Johnston's army or yet taking Atlanta, and when
the democratic national convention had met in Chicago and declared the
war a failure. Under such conditions the price of gold went up to $2.85
and the value of greenbacks down to 35 cents. Such fluctuations in the

HIGH SCHOOL P.T'II.lllX(i, A.MKS

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 269

currency made troubles everywhere in the country that were quite as per-
plexing as the fighting of rebels and not nearly so exciting. They aflfected
every business and rendered uncertain almost any man's financial status ;
and then when Grant had taken the railroad south of Petersburg, and Sher-
man had taken Atlanta and started through Georgia for the sea, and Thomas
had crushed Hood at Nashville, and Lincoln had been re-elected, the price
of gold began to go down and the value of greenbacks to go up, notwith-
standing the fact that the war expenditures continued at the maximum.
So the return toward normal finances was only moderate until Grant be-
gan to close in on Lee, Shennan to press upon Johnston in North Caro-
lina and the country to understand that the war was about over and the
Union preserved. The financial results appear almost to have been an off-
set to some of the victories, and the matter was discussed by the /Egis
of March 29, 1865, under the title, "The Great Fall in Gold," as follows:

"The decline in gold during the past week has been fearfully rapid.
From 205 it has successively and quickly jumped to 175, to 160, 155 to
147, rallying to about 151. 'Lame ducks' are plenty in Wall street and
other old gambling thoroughfares. As far as these gentry themselves are
concerned, we have but little sympathy for them. They have gambled
in gold, 'building' it when its rise was daily becoming a serious embarrass-
ment to the cause of the Union and a fearful and unnecessary tax upon
consumers; and if they have now got their fingers burnt, there are but
few to cry pity. The greatest strain, however, and one in which all are
generally interested, is upon the legitimate business of the country. These
sudden falls must find some unprepared, and failures are the result. When
failures become general, confidence is displaced, business deranged, money
becomes worthless, and the people are poor. To prevent such a catas-
trophe it is to be hoped the fall in gold will be steady and gradual, and if
it is, the business of the country can accommodate itself to the change with-
out damage, and all descend from the pinnacle of high prices without
danger."

And as the military events were brought rapidly to a close, and the
rebel armies dissolved and surrendered, the financial movement became ac-
celerated ; and not only the falling quotations of gold but also the unequal
readjustment of business to the new conditions was illustrated in the fol-
lowing paragraph of May 17, 1865:

"Gold is still going down, being quoted at 129^. We predict that it will
reach 125 before the week is out. How comes it that prices of goods are
going up while gold is going down? It is not the thing that was preached
to us two years ago by the merchants and traders as a reason for the ad-
vance. We fail to see the consistency of the present arrangements."

Without having any opportunity to refer to the story of the merchants
whose neglect to reduce prices is here complained of, it may be surmised
that they had on hand stocks of goods which they had purchased at war
prices and on which they were liable to sustain very heavy losses.

270 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

Along about this time, there are frequent references in the papers to
the governinent's seven-thirty loan. This was a very popular loan and it
assisted tlie government materially in cleaning up the finances of the war.
It hore a rate of interest that figured two cents a day on a hundred dollars,
Sundays included. The aggregate f<jr the year being seven and thirty
hun<lreiltlis i)cr cent, whence was the derivation of the name. The time
came before long when the government could borrow money at six per cent
and the seven-thirties were rapidly retired with the money so Iwrrowed.
liut while the seven-thirties lasted they circulated; and the fact that the
peojjle were backing the government financially, for a con>ideration is
evidenced by the following note in the /Egis of May 3. 1865:

"Mr. Ross, our county treasurer, has within a few weeks past pro-
cured for parties resident in this town and in the county over $6,000 in
the popular seven-thirty loan. Most of this was in small sums, a hundred
here and a few hundred there, as the farmers and others found they had
a few surplus dollars. It may be well to remark here that only two hun-
dred millions of this loan remain, and those who want it had better pitch
in soon, as it is going at the rate of forty millions a week, and is the la-t
that will be issued by the government, now that the war is over."

Till-: I)K.\KT.

One Mil)jcHl pertaining to the war that is very numerously discussed
in the files of the newspajjers of that jieriod and that very greatly con-
cernc<l many of the folks at home was the draft tn make up local de-
ficiencies in the (|uota of volunteers which each cnntnniiiily was sui)posed
to furnish. The draft, however, ajipears to have been much more talked
about than actually emj)Ioyed. There was a jjrejudice, both in and out
of the service, against drafted men. although there were undoubtedly very
many sucJi men with respect to whom the i)reju(lice was quite unjust. .\l
this late ilay it is ])lcasant to assume that the prejudice was unjust as t..
all and there will ln' no attem])t here to distinguish l)elween drafted nun
and volunteers. The fact undoubtedly is that not a little of the volunteer-
ing was done with a view to avoiding the disagreeable consequences of
entering the service by compulsion of the draft. .Xnd altogether it came
ahont Ih.il liv <iiif mean- or another, loyal enthusiasm, jiatriotic duty, prom-
ise of jjounties and fear of the draft, the (|uiita of the cunty was made up
with very little actual resort to the <lrafi,

I'.ul the ibaft was very much of a nightmare all the same. It was based
on the law of congress for the enrollment of all men in the loyal .states who
were fit for service, and the re(|uirement was that each community should
furnish its just pro])orlion of soldiers, taking into account the number jire-
viously furnishe<l. In the beginning of the war the raising of volunteers
was easy: but as the war pnigrissid ;m<l its awful burdens came to be felt,
tin- tilling nf the ranks t<> the required extent, became ,1 maltcr nf loniinnn

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY -271

effon. Personal solicitations were reinforced by public offers of bounties as
well as with the standing appeals not to wait to be drafted. But with all the
efforts the situation was often trying. For instance, in the -^gis of Jan-
uary 13, 181.X+. there is a statement of the recent enlistments for the sev-
eral townships showing that the quota to l>e raised at that time was si.xty-
four. and tiiat the numlier of enlistments to correspond was forty-six. Just
how much trouble there was over the other eighteen we do not know, but
the publication reveals the local stage of the enlistment proposition at
the beginning of the most trying year of the war.

At this time the status for the several townships was as follows:

Washington, — Quota 7, enlistments 5, deficiencies 2.

Xe\-ada — Quota iS. enlistments 20. surplus 2.

Franklin — Quota 4. enlistment o.

Collins — Quota 1, enlistment O.

Indian Creek — Quota 7. enlistments 4, deficiencies 3.

Palestine — Quota 3. enlistments 3.

Union — Quota 7, enlistments 4. deficiencies 3.

Milford — Quota 3, enlistments 3.

Howard — Quota 0. enlistment 1. ileficiencies 5.

Lafayette— Quota i. enlistment i.

New Albany — Quota 7, enlistment 5, deficiencies 2.

In .\ugust of the same year, when it was being sought to replenish the
lines that had been depleted in Grant's caiupaign from the Rapidan to the
Appomattox, and in Sherman's from CIiattano<.->g;\ to .\tlanta. there was
a further statement on the authority of the provost marshal of the sixth
congressional districts, showing the situation as to the several townships
of the county with respect to the calls for men up to that time.

The deficiencies were: Washington tO. Franklin S. Collins 3. Indian
Creek 12. Union 10, Howard 4, Lafayette 3, New .\lbany u. total (17:
and the surpluses: Nevada 14, Palestine 5, Milford 2. total ji ; leaving
a net deficiency for the county of forty-six. The editor of the -^"igis was
then disposeil to complain that information as to the deficiency had not
sooner been officially furnished, and he indicated that the quota of the
county would have been filled reasonabl\- if it had been known. At tlic
same time there was an earnest appeal to the hoard of supervisors to otTcr
a bounty for the enlistments needed.

The tact is that before llie war was over such bounty was utTercd bv tiie
county, and paid ami sometime after the war the matter was equalized by
tlie payment of similar amounts to the soldiers who had enlisted without
waiting for a bounty. The amount of Ixwnties ]iaid up to the close of
tile war, but not including the subsequent eqiudizatiiin of bounties, was
completed by the editor oi the -Tvgis, who was also county clerk, as follows:

272 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

Bounty to soldiers $ 4.850

Bounty to soldiers' families 12,200

Relief to soldiers' families 1,100

Relief by aid societies (estimated) 500

Cash and goods to Sanitary Commission 1,000

Total $19,650

THE soldiers' ORPHANS.

In the time of the war nearly all of the systematic home work of a
charitable order, had for its object the comfort of the soldiers in the field,
or the care of the soldiers' families at home. And toward the close of the
war, the phase of this work which appears to have engaged the largest
measure of attention was the founding of the Soldiers' Orphans' Home at
Davenport. This institution was afterward taken over by the state, but
it was inaugurated as a corporate benevolence with a number of the leading
men of the state as the incorporators. The movement for the institution
was well started and it ai)i)ealed to the widest and best public sentiment.
In the decade or more following the war, the institution thus founded,
was one of the most useful in the state and its usefulness as an institution
for the care of children es])ecially needing the attention of the state may
be said still to continue. But the original purpose for wdiich the institution
was founded, was in fact accomi)lished in the ten or fifteen years follow-
ing the war, for the reason that in about that time the supply of soldiers'
orjihans of suitable age had alniut run out.

But at the close of the war, there were in the state, a lot of small chil-
dren, who had the strongest sort of a claim upon the people of the state,
which claim the peojile had every disposition to honor. In this part of the
state the movement for the supjwrt of the institution, centered largely in a
fair which was held at Mar-.lialhnwii in Sci)lenil)er, 1865. For this fair,
coiitriliutions of articles had been solicited and made all over this part of
the state, and when the fair was held there was a general turn out. .Xniong
those who went down from Xevada to the fair, was the editor of the -'Egis
from whose report it may be best jud.Lced about how the people were trying
to ])roceed in their efforts to do justice to the soldiers' ori)hans. The editor's
report was as follows :

"We stole a march on time last week and visited the orphans' fair at
Marshalltown. Taking the train on Wednesday noon in ninety minutes
we caught sight of the booths and banners of the fair, and soon were swelter-
ing through the torrid atmosphere to the scene of operations. We must
acknowledge our indebtedness to our friends, Messrs. Woodbury. Abel Wil-
liams and others, who took us and our party in charge and soon showed
us the ropes whereby we secured an eligible tent and the other etceteras
necessary to commence the nomadic life we prdjxjsed to indulge in while on

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 273

this excursion. Of the fair proper we do not propose to give a description,
as most of our readers are subscribers to the 'Spirit of the Fair,' in whose
columns the works of art and other matters pertaining to the exhibition
have had appropriate mention. Having bought our entry ticket, we went
to the gate, and a man with a red ribbon on his breast said 'go in,' and
taking him as he meant we proceeded to go in. The first 'go in' we ex-
perienced was induced by a beautiful damsel with a cerulean eye whose
brows were shaded by one of the new a-la-mode bread basket hats and
who held in her hand a tiny pass book and a black lead pencil. She showed
us a fine piano which she assured us we would certainly draw in the lot-
tery, and we bought it, paying the cerulean-eyed lass two dollars and fifty
cents therefor. We are expecting it by every train, and when it comes are
going to set it up in our sanctum and have the 'devil' play upon its thou-
sand strings to assuage the pangs of a broken heart and scare away the
mice. Having bought the piano, we turned away, and our eyes caught
the floating drapery of a five feet nine bloomer, who was lanquidly peram-
bulating through the sand towards the bureau of agricultural implements.
While admiring the faultless motion of her hands, as she expatiated upon
the merits of a four horse McCormick reaper, v/hose intricacies she was
explaining to a white-haired youth with a beveled hat and eye glass, and

which said youth sported waxed mustaches in the form of a , -*- ;

while wrapped in these contemplations we say, including observations of a
pair of pretty ankles which sustained this tower of loveliness, we were as-
saulted by another damsel with red ripe lips and a certain hazy atmosphere
in her peepers, prognostic of a shower of tears, on slightest provocation,
who demanded of us, 'Would we take a share in her afghan?' Still having
in our mind the Acadian life we proposed to lead while at the fair and pre-
suming this nymph to be the proprietress of a booth where all care was
driven away, and which for the poetry implied in the name she chose to
denominate her 'afghan,' we said we'd share. Ah, how her eye brightened
at those words of ours ! With what an angelic smile she turned and waved
us to follow ! We followed, smacking our lips in fond anticipation of
mint-juleps, flavored with nectar and embellished with pretzels, or per-
haps we would be treated to some other rare ambrosia dealt out by some
fair damsel who should gaze sympathetically upon us as we cooled our
internal thirst with the icy lotion. Our fall was complete, when instead
of sherbets or nectar or soda water or even lager beer, we beheld before
our astonished eyes a great fancy colored woolen horse blanket. But we
were 'going in,' and we suffered ourself to be taken in, and gave the last
dollar in our name. At that instant her liquid eye caught the glance of a
modest bachelor from our town who had just escaped from the clutches
of a female with wire twist curls and the attempts to sell him a full suit
of nicely embroidered little girl's clothes. The last we saw of liquid eyes
she stood wonderingly gazing at the modest bachelor, and he stood gazing
at the wondrous 'afghan.' At this moment we caught sight of our Agatha

274 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

Ann, who had been covertly watching our motions and who now came up
to us in fever heat and proceeded to 'go in.' We charitably drop the veil
over this domestic scene, not wishing by word or pen to discourage the
rapidly rising tendency to marry, displayed by our returned boys. Suffice
it to say. we soon found ourselves "going out.' and when we next went in
we had prudent counsels whispered continuously in our ear."

CHAPTER XXVI.
THE CLOSE OF THE WAR.

SCENES PICTURED i;V THE .EGIS.

The temper of the people, while the great drama of the war was being
brought to a close, their rejoicing over the victories, their terrible grief over
the assassination of Lincoln and their resentments afterwards were all very
clearly depicted in the editorial columns of the ^gis during this time. A
historical review of the time would be quite incomplete without some lib-
eral citations from this source, and we are fortunate in being able here to
quote from the contemporary expressions and reports of Editor John M.
Brainard.

Perhaps, however, the series of quotations had better begin with an
issue in Alay, 1864, in which were reports and comments concerning the
battle of Pleasant Hill. Story County had been strongly represented in
the very forefront of this battle in both the Fourteenth and Thirty-second
Iowa regiments. Both regiments had suffered notably, and the editor said :
"For the first time since the contest commenced have we at home been
called to mourn for friends and neighbors killed and wounded in battle in
such numbers as at present. It adds no little to the poignancy of our sor-
row that their loss was without avail, that no enduring success was achieved
by their sacrifice. * * * j„ ji^g Ught of this great sorrow what is glory
or honor to the poor weeping wife and helpless children? What shall still
the heart of her who fears and trembles for him who is reported missing?
The painful uncertainty attending the fate of prisoners in the hands of
such scoundrels as the rebels have lately been, is more unendurable than
the sad knowledge that our friend is dead. We can only tender our sym-
]«thies in common with the whole public to the sorrow-stricken friends and
patiently wait and hope for more cheering news."

.As the last scenes in the war were being enacted, there was joy and oc-
casion for joy. The fall of Richmond was chronicled thus in the first
report : "The news of the capture of Richmond was received by our people
about noon on Monday last by favor of Mr. Mills, the telegraph operator
at this place, and was at first hardl)- credited; but by noon of the next day
we all knew it was a sure thing, and the bunting was flung out. At this

275

276 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

writing (Tuesday) the big flag floats from the top of the school house; the
yEgis office has its rag out, the bells are ringing and the boys and men are
bawling until all are hoarse. Posters are out calling the people together
for a grand jubilee at the court house tonight, and all feel gay. Business
is irksome, and all feel. Let 'er swing."

"P. S. — The jubilation at the court house was well attended. The build-
ing was illuminated, as was the school house and many residences of the
town. Bonfires were burning in the streets, and general hilarity prevailed.
Speeches were made by Captain Hambleton, Colonel Scott, Sherif? Iloggatt
and others, all brim full of patriotism and good feeling."

And then again, the fall of Richmond was elaborated at a date in fact
after Lee's surrender but a]3i)arently before the news thereof had been re-
ceived. This article was fitly entitled, "The Great Rejoicing," and it ran
as follows:

"The outburst of joy throughout the loyal states over the fall of Rich-
mond was the most universal and heartfelt that has been enjoyed since the
surrender of Vicksburg, and as compared with that occasion it is deeper
and with better rea.son. The cajiture of the city of Richmond, besides
being the culmination of the hojjcs and struggles of the gallant army for
four long years, entails in its fall the sure and, may we not confidently hope,
the speedy end of the rebellion and of fighting. Lee's shattered forces,
broken and dispiriled, are melting away before the tempestuous charges of
Sheridan's army, and if not totally annihilated, will so far have lost cohesion
and morale as an army as to cease to be an object worthy of the solicitude
of our generals, their only use to serve as a body guard to cover the retreat
and escape of their chief.

"But the capture of Richiimnd means more to the nation than mere oc-
cupancy and possession of the strongest fortified town and the rout of its
defending army. It is by public acknowledgment of its defenders the last
ditch of the rebellion. When .\'ew ( )rleans and X'icksburg fell, we were
still pointed to Richmond as defiantly battling and to baffle all our efforts.
W'iien .Atlanta and Charleston and Culumhia were in ruins and the i)0))ifla-
tion of Savannah were crouching like wliip|)cd curs at the feet of Sherman,
the proud finger still pointed to Richmond, inclosing in its defence the
'government' of the confederacy. .So long as the city stood and the traitors
went through the mocking forms and kept up the i)omp and circumstance
of the national authority, so long there was a gleam of hope for the most
desj)airing, and so much longer could the southern soldier be induced to
fight.

"With the fall of the city falls the last ho]ie of the rebellion — falls the
spirit of the soldiers — fall the hope of foreign monarchs and aristocrats of
seeing the tlismembcrmcnt and destruction of the model republic : and in
like proportion arises the hope of the loyal of our country and of the op-
prcsscfl in all the nations of the earth, who are and have been looking with
painful interest in this great struggle between justice and error. And for

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 277

all this, let the people praise God for His manifold blessings to us as a
nation."

The next issue of the .'Egis reported Lee's surrender, the capture of
Mobile, the negotiations in North Carolina for the surrender of Johnston to
Sherman and the practical collapse of the rebellion ; but there was no en-
thusiasm over such consummation, for the joy had gone from the hearts
of the people when the news had come of Lincoln's assassination. The
editor reports the reception of the news as follows :

"The saddest record we have been called upon to make during our ex-
perience as a jcxirnalist in this place is that of the universal gloom which
pervaded our people (without exception, we believe we can truly say) on
Saturday last upon the reception of the news of the untimely death of
President Lincoln. As the stunning intelligence flew from mouth to mouth,
each lip became pallid in the communication, proud heads bowed as the
stricken oak before the storm, and tears unbidden started from eyes long
unused to weep. Old men turned away their heads and wept, and young
men ground their teeth and stamped their feet in rage. There was only
wanting some tangible object to give vent to their feelings. Mothers and
sisters who had mourned a husband, brother, father, ofTered up at the shrine
of their country's altar, again unsealed the fountains of their tears and
mourned anew the loss of our national father. When the sad intelligence
was fully confirmed by successive dispatches, by common consent the places
of public business were closed, their door knobs clothed with crape, the
farmers stopped their trading and sadly entering their wagons, returned
sorrowfully to their homes; the smith his anvil ceased to ring; the law-
yers and the mechanics dropped their calling and either shut themselves in
silent communication with their grief or went abroad in search of sympathy
and consolation. Flags were raised at half-mast and draped in mourning
from the ^gis office anfl other buildings. So passed the day, still as the
Sabbath, while anxious squads waited impatiently the reception of special
dispatches ordered from the agent of the Associated Press in Chicago."

And writing more elaborately under the heading of "Our Fallen Chief,"
he says :

"Our chief is fallen. Lincoln is dead. Such was the intelligence which
crushed like a dead weight upon the hearts of the nation but a few short
days ago — so cruelly crushed when they were abounding with high hope
and yet joyous over the news of important victories. Now, like King
David, we exclaim : 'O, my son Absalom ! my son, my son, Absalom !
Would God that I had dieil for thee ! O, Absalom, my son, my son !'

"The cruel bullet did too well its fatal work. The column of his life
is broken ! and the nation mourns their fallen father Abraham. Through
tlie dark quartette of years just gone his was the mind and voice 'com-
manding, aiding, animating all, where foe appeared to press or friend to
fall.'

278 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

"To the weak eyes of human mind his loss seems irreparable. And
yet, we should never forget that our trust as a nation is in God, which
faith is well foundetl ; that though "He moves in a mysterious way, yet He
doeth all things well.'

'"From out the chaos of events this affliction has arisen, and was evi-
dently given us as a lesson, needed perhaps in the wild rejoicing of the
people, when the mind and heart of man forgets to praise Him and says:
'By my own right hand have 1 done it all' — needed to teach us that our
strengtli is not in man but in Providence."

And two weeks still later, the local memorial to tiie tirst martyr presi-
dent was reported as follows :

"Last Thursday, the day appointed by the governor as a day of services
throughout tlie stale in memory of our deceased president, was appro-
priatelv observed in Nevada. .\ jM-ocession was formed on the south square
at eleven o'clock, in which were represented the Masonic society, the. Good
Teni|)lars, .Sabbath schools, soldiers and citizens. The procession, after
passing through >everal streets, halted at the school house ; and in open air
(no hou>e being large enough to accommodate the assembly I the president,
Hon. G. M. Ma.xwell. in a few appropriate words announced the object of
tlie gathering and called on Mr. Reid to open the exercises with prayer.
Ciilonel lolni Scott was then introduced as the speaker of the occasion, and
in an address of considerable length recounted nuich of tlie history of the
de|)arted pre>i(lent. incidentally referring to many matters connected with
our national histury during his career as the chief executive, and jiaying a
gldwing tribute to h\-> many noble (|ualities Ixnii of mind and heart. Music
was improvised for the occasion by a quartette under the direction of Prof.
Doughtv, the regularly cJiosen ciioir having, for some of those mysterious
reasons known and apjireciated only by singers, failed at the eleventh hour
to make their appearance. The failine was doubtless regretted : but the
quartette rendered tlie "Deatli of Fllsworth," modihed to suit the different
circumstances, in a iiiamier that brought tears to many an o\ c in tlie con-
gregation. Ilu^iness was suspended and many of the buildings were draped
in mourning; while the black and white rosette was seen on the dress of
most present. The whole affair was an earnest of the deep sympathy and
.sorrow of our ])eoplc in the lo>~'- of the great ami good man, Abraham Lin-
coln."

A fortnight further on the civil chief of the confederacy bad been cap-
tured and public interest had returned to the doings of the day, and the
editor was accordingly moved to jubilate, that is more suggestive of tlie
sentiment of the time than of an accurate forecasting of events. The editor
said :

"leff Davis was caugiit on the morning of Wednesday last at Irwins-
ville, Georgia, attcm|ning to escape to the woods dressed in his wife's petti-
coats. When brought to bay by our troops he brandished a huge bowie,
but was finally persuaded to give up by the presentation of -everal re-

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 279

volvers. He is on his way to Washington under strong guard. We see that
it is a question whether Jeff Davis will be tried for murder or treason. We
hope the latter. As a murderer he was guilty perhaps of the death of one
man, President Lincoln, but as a traitor he was accessory to the death of
tens of thousands, and for this let him liang. Let it be recorded in history
that high treason is a crime for which arch-traitors are hung. Jefferson
Davis has now after four years of earnest search we hope found or is about
to find his 'last ditch' to which may he be permitted to descend from the
highest limb of the highest 'sour apple tree.' "

But reports of troubles of one sort or another, incident to the fact tliat
there were copperheads in the country, continued to come in ; and one lead-
ing article in the .Egis recounts the treatment that was accorded to indis-
creet rebel sympathizers by loyal people during the period of excitement
following the assassination of Lincoln. E. G. Day on his way home from
New Madrid had seen at Mendota, Illinois, a man being paraded around
and subjected to sundry indignities and having also a placard on his back,
"The Mendota Traitor." Sheriff' Hoggatt had happened to be in Clinton
on his way to Fort Madison with the murderer McMullen, when the news
of the assassination came. A few minutes before a character there had
called the president a "baboon ;" and when the news came the crowd started
after him, pounded him and ran him across the bridge into Illinois. LTp
in Mason City, according to the Cerro Gordo Republican, a woman had
said of the assassination that "she was glad of it and hoped the deed was
done by her brother." The other women took her out and ducked her,
blacked her face and marched her up the street, while they sang, "We'll
rally round the Flag." The list of incidents is followed with a suggestion
of caution to the lady in this community "who clapped her hands and
Herodias-like danced for joy that 'the old tyrant had gone to the devil.' "

Another story of the attempts of people to get together in the border
country after the war is related a little later by the ^'Egis. It is of a neigh-
borhood in East Tennessee, where the young men hatl enlisted in both
armies, and where it was undertaken to hold a reunion picnic of all the
folks, young and old, on both sides. All went well until a Secesh miss re-
fused to dance with a Yankee veteran, and then the trouble began, which
resulted in killing three men and wounding seven.

x\nd still another story following shortly after the fall of Richmond and
illustrating some topsy turvy conditions in the south is given by the .'Egis
on the authority of the Philadelphia Press whose correspondent said :

"A large squad of rebels being escorted through the streets yesterday
by colored guards, came to a halt in front of Libby, when one of them
observed his former slave passing up and down the line with genuine mar-
tial bearing. Stepping a little out of the ranks, he said : 'Hello, Jack, is
that you?' The negro guard looked at him with blank astonishment, not
nnmingled with disdain, for the familiarity of the address. The rebel cap-
tive, determined upon being recognized, said entreatingly : 'Why, Jack,

280 HISTORY OF STORY COL'XTY

(Jont you know iiie?' "Yes, 1 know you very well,' was the sullen reply,
'and if you don't fall back into that line I will give you this bayonet,' at
the same time bringing his musket to position of charge. This course
terminated attempts at familiarity."

THE SULTAN.\ EXPLOSION.

One other story from the ^gis, not from tlie editor himself, but written
by Corporal S. A. Daniel of Company E of the Third Iowa, comes as a
local report of the saddest event, aside from the assassination of Lincoln,
pertaining to the close of the war; and with it we will conclude this chap-
ter. Corporal Daniel was at this time engaged in looking after the welfare
of transient solcHors at -Memphis, and as it appears, he was right on hand
when the Sultana blew up. The Sultana was a river boat and she was on
her way up the river from \'icksburg loaded to her limit and beyond with
Union soldiers wlin had been prisoners of war and had survived the hor-
rors of /Vndersonvillc and similar ])risons. .\nd it was while thus loaded
down witii men for whom above all others there was the greatest and most
general commiseration at the time, that the Sultana's boiler exploded. The
scene is depicted by Corporal Daniel tluis:

"War mingled with some plea>ures had brought its sorrows — and let
me picture some of tlie varied scenes of a day at Memphis. Last night the
steamer Sultana from X'icksburg lay at the levee freighted with more than
two thousand jicrsons. mostly paroled prisoners from rebel camps. Be-
tween two aiKJ tluce hundred of tliese came to the Soldiers' Lodge, where
a good supper was ])repared, and we kejit feeding them as long as a loaf of
bread could be had or coffee made, and then a barrel of soda crackers was
rolled out and distributed among them. I never saw a more pleasant and
cheerful set of men — the goodly eatables set before them formed such a
contrast to their pri.son abode at Andersonville. But ere this morning
dawned we were awakened from our slumbers and could distinctly catch
the sounds of 'Help, help, fetch a Ixjat, oh God. can't you do something?'
Many voices were heard away up the river, and presently away down the
river and seemingly all over the broad bo.som of the mighty river lialf stifled
cries of 'help, help.' The gleaming light six or eight miles above revealed
to us that the steamer was a mass of flames, her boiler had collapsed, and
she had delivered up her burden of living souls to the current of the Father
of Waters. It was soon announced that <|uite a number had been
picked up.

"Mr^. Dauid and myself each took an arm-loatl of shirts, drawers and
socks, and started to the sufferers — some bruised, some were burned and
scalded, .some partially clad and some entirely naked, unless perhaps a quilt
or blanket thrown over them. When we had delivered our load Mrs.
Daniel threw to a fellow her cloak as he stood partially hid behinrl a com-
rade. I took from my feet my socks and gave to a poor fellow who was

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 281

nearly chilled to death, and we started for a new supply. The U. S. Sani-
tary agents were now on hand with more clothing and with the aid of sur-
geons who began to arrive, much suffering was relieved. Gunboat No. 8
was coming in. I hastened to her landing and found about sixty nearly
naked, some badly scalded. As the sanitary agents by this time had gone
either up or down the river to distribute clothing, I immediately sent a
messenger to the clerk at the sanitary rooms for sixty shirts and a like
number of drawers and socks, all of which were on hand in a very short
time and the clerk to boot. Flannels were selected for the shivering boys,
except in case of scalds or burns cotton garments were preferred. Other
boats came in with more of the needy ones, and all the forenoon we were
distributing clothing.

"Some were half dead ; but nearly all could say, 'God bless you, how
glad I am to get something to wear again.' Some of their friends had met
them at Vicksburg, some ladies were on board to give a helping hand, and
all these but two or three are numbered among the missing.

"The exact number picked up is not yet ascertained ; but it will fall
short of five hundred. All is being done that can be done. ( More definite
reports made later concerning this disaster — probably the most pitiful of
the whole war — showed that the exact number of survivors was 786. The
number of lost was never exactly known; but it was approximately fifteen
hundred. — Editor.)

"Oh, what a scene — their groans and sighs and 'thank yous,' 'God bless
the Sanitary Commission,' still ring in my ears. Nothing of a disastrous
nature has been so heartrending since the commencement of this destructive
rebellion.

"Let us for a moment turn clairvoyant and take a view of those that
have found a watery grave — some locked in each others arms, sometimes
lying together in clusters seemingly holding on to one another, then strewed
singly along for miles on the muddy bottom — or just down there lies a
woman clinging to her infant babe with a mother's fondness. I will close.
The picture is sorrowful — some of the fruits of this unholy rebellion."

CHAPTER XXVTT.

THE IMPRISOXMEXT OF ROBERT CAMPBELL.

By far the most interesting antl remarkable story of adventure that be-
longs to the history of Story County pertains to the escape of Captain
Robert J. Campbell, of the Second Iowa Consolidated, and his especial com-
panion, James C. Trotter, from the rebel prison at Florence, South Caro-
lina, and their ultimate arrival together with a Connecticut soldier, Bryson
Paddock, after several recaptures and new escapes, in the Union lines at
Xewbern, Xorth Carolina. It is a story of a prison escape such as had
few parallels in the war. Captain Campbell was one of the original mem-
bers of Company E of the Third Iowa, enlisting from Story County, and
he served through the war as one of the best Story County soldiers. He
had become orderly sergeant of the company at Atlanta and had been ap-
])ointed second lieutenant. He was captured in the battle of Atlanta and
when he rejoined his company after the adventures hereafter to be related
it was as captain of Company .\ of the Second Iowa Consolidated in which
regiment what was left of the Third Iowa had been merged. "Jim" Trot-
ter never lived in Story County, but he was one of the Jasper County squad
that were included in Comi)any E at its organization in Xevada, and he was
closely identified with the Story County numbers of that company through-
out the war. Cajitain Cam]il)ell still lives, a wiry and very attractive old
gentleman at Hollcnbcrg. Kansas, and he yet visits occasionally his friends
and relatives in Story County. ■Jim" Trotter died, in 1905. at his home
near Guthrie Center, Iowa, and botli of them may fairly be said to have
recovered completely from the effects of their experiences in the Caro-
linas.

The story of the story itself lias some interest. Captain Campbell wrote
it soon after the war and very modestly and persistently, tliough not quite
successfully, sought to make "Jim" Trotter the hero of his story. Pos-
sibly, because of the incompleteness of his success in this res]iect, he laiil
away his manuscript and left it in hiding for some twenty years. .After
this period he rescued it sufficiently to give it to his particular friend ami
comrade. Senator J. A. Fitch|)atrick. who in turn laid it away for anotlicr
twenty years. I-'inally. tjic latter was moved to resurrect the manuscript
once again and turned it over to the editor of this history who made of it

282

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 283

such use as he was able and who now takes this opportunity to put it where
those interested in tales of adventure and successful daring as related to
Story County may readily find it.

However, before taking up the story, it is fitting to incorporate here a
portion of a letter from Colonel G. W. Crossley, written shortly after the
death of Trotter and while the story of Captain Campbell was still en-
gaging his attention. Colonel Crossley said :

"I am grieved to learn of the death of our old comrades. Wood and
Trotter. They were both good men and true soldiers. I am reading with
as much interest as if I had not heartl the story from the lips of the writer.
Captain Campbell's story, and the death of his old comrade who shared
with him that wonderful experience of hardship and privation, renews the
wonder I have so often felt that either of them should have survived — not
only to live long and useful lives, but that they could have survived at all.
There may be those who will read the story and wonder if it can all be
true. If they knew those men as you and I know them they would know
that every word of it is true. You and I may well feel proud of our as-
sociation with such men."

Also, Senator J. A. Fitchpatrick, writing a little later, corroborated Cap-
tain Campbell in the following language :

"I took intense interest in the narrative of Captain Robert J. Campbell
concluded in the Representative last week and am reminded that it was just
forty years ago this month that I first heard the story from Captain Camp-
bell's lips. I rejoined the regiment at that time in Washington, D. C, and
found Old Bob, who had rejoined about a month previous in Xorth Caro-
lina and who was then wearing a bright new uniform, indicating his rank
as captain ; but he proved to be the same generous, unselfish Bob, with
whom I had served for four years in the ranks, under all the varied aspects
of an active army life — not in the least pufifed up by his promotion, but
taking the same kindly interest in his old comrades in the ranks as was
always his wont in times passed. The story he told then was just the saiue
as that published, thougli it was amplified with many thrilling details that
are omitted from the written statement, and that pictured the whole scene
in such vivid and realistic lights as would make a lasting impression on the
memory.

"It has been my privilege to know Captain Campbell, more intimately
than I ever knew any other man, under all conditions and circumstances,
common to a soldier and citizen, in joy and sorrow, victory and defeat and
in prosperity and adversity, sleeping under the same blanket or without a
blanket other than the clouded canopy, or starry decked heaven, and upon
all occasions he proved to be the same unselfish comrade, taking more ac-
count for the comfort of others than for himself. No one acquainted with
him would even think of doubting his word upon any subject, and his ex-
perience, as related in his story of escape, may be implicitly relied upon as
containing the plain unvarnished trutli in every particular."

284 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

With these preliminaries we will permit Captain Campbell to tell his
modest but wontierful story in his words of nearly half a century ago, as
follows, beginning with the jiart thereof relating to his capture and prison
experience :

THE BATTLK OF ATLANTA.

On the evening of July 21, 1864, in line of battle under the covert of
a hill we had that day charged and captured, though at great cost of life,
including that of our beloved Lieutenant Colonel Jacob Abernathy ; the
mail had come in and the boys were reading their letters from loved ones
at home, heedless of the continuous shriek of shells and the whistling of
grape and canister on every hand. \\'orking all iii,i,dit thrt)wing up rifle
pits, we would think of the morrow, for we had the presentiment of a
terrible battle before us. The morning of the 22d we procured a few hours'
sleep, ate our breakfast of hardtack, bacon and coffee and became somewhat
refreshed. There had been a lull in the firing, but about ten o'clock this
forenoon desultory musketry firing began to be heard in our rear. At first
we thought it our men firing off their guns and getting them in readiness
for action. This kept up and finally about an hour later the gallant General
McPherson came along our line in a gallop, going out to see what all this
firing meant, and about the same time artillery firing was heard to the rear,
and we instinctively knew that something was up. \ot over two minutes
after McPherson had ridden pa.st his orderly came riding back on the run
saying that the General had been killed.

The Third Iowa having no commissioned officers left. Captain Mat-
thews of the Fifty-second Indiana had been sent over to take command
and the companies having been consolidated into three designated as "A,"
"B" and "C," I had the privilege of commanding Company "A."

The long roll sounded, we formed in line, and the bursting of shell all
over and all around us by this time became furious.

Captain I!. 11. Rood of General Smith's staff soon appeared, and led
us through the woods about eighty rods and placed us on the e.xtreme left
of our line in the face of the enemy advancing over an oi)en fiekl not more
than 100 yards away. We opened up and sent them back whirling. They
reformed and came back on a charge. This was repeated five or six times
during which thev came up within a few feet, always to be driven back.

Between our left and the .'sixteenth Corps commanded by General
Dodge, was a sjiace of about a mile with no troijis to stem the tide of the
approaching foe. While we kept busy attending to those in front 3 division
or two of the enemy had pas.sed through this open space and got directly
in our new rear, of which we knew nothing until they began to pour volley
after vollev into our rear as then formed, and we then awoke to the fact
that we were entirely surrounded. Captain Matthews, Bob Griffith, our
banner bearer, and sixteen others of the 125 of our regiment harl been
killed and many wounded ; the rebels were right among us on every side.

lldllciihiT';. Kansas

K()15ERT
.Mcnilicr

.1. ( AMPr.KM.

iii|iaMy K. Tliird lowu
Infantry. Captiiivd at Atlanta. .Maclc Ximv Xotable
E.scapr 'I'lirciM^'li tlir Cainlinas. Slury Tulil in the
lli-t.nv

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 285

A comrade of Company "C" had his leg shattered by a shell and I started
to drag him to a tree. He implored me not to leave him. Jim Trotter came
up and we two got him to a place of safety and gave him water to drink.
By this time we were entirely cut off and could find no avenue of escape.
Hand to hand fighting, Ole Ward was standing up against a tree fighting
with a clubbed musket until I saw him fall. The rebels piled right on top
of me. I could not realize that I was a prisoner. Jim Trotter urged me
to surrender to save my life. Dead rebels and Yanks were all around us,
some piled across each other. In marching us out they took us across the
field in our front where we had been fighting and we found it literally cov-
ered with dead men, showing the terrible effect of our firing.

Before the fight when getting into line, I had told Gus Kendall to stay
behind and guard our luggage. But he left it and went into the fight and
I came across him among the prisoners. I had made up my mind I would
make a break for liberty at the first opportunity, but the guards anticipated
this, pointing to several lines of their reserves which had not been in action ;
so I saw it was all up with me.

Sherman had three separate armies at Atlanta, but this battle of July
22, 1864, was fought about one mile southeast of Atlanta, covering a line
about two miles long, by the Army of the Tennessee unaided under the
'-nmmand of the brave and impetuoU|S General John A. Logan, and for the
space and time occupied, no battle of the war was more terrific, sanguinary
and decisive.

PRISONERS TO THE REAR.

As we marched toward Atlanta our boys were hunting each other up
and we found that thirty of the Third Iowa had been captured. They were
not taken in a body, but picked up one or two at a time in their efforts to
escape. Old Joe Fitchpatrick showed up, and I said: "Well, Joe, you had
poor legs to get out of the way with."

Our artillery was sending the shells lively among us and the Johnnies
had enough of that and had us move out lively. They started us not over
one and one-half miles from the city, but they marched us nine miles be-
fore we got there, our regimental flag and banner furled.

The rebs told us that Sherman's army had been wiped out and what
was left was in full retreat across the Chattahoochie. The provost guards
were continually riding up and insulting us. One of them drew a gun on
me and would have fired, but I was guarded by a soldier who had been at
the front, and who gave the dude soldier a swipe with his musket with such
force as to retire him from action.

Our names and organizations were recorded and our minds teemed with
thoughts as to where we would be taken to.

286 lilSTORV UF STORY COUNTY

A fine-haired Louisiana soldier came to the guard line and wanted to
know if any of us Yanks had any fine boots to trade for shoes. I told him
I could accommodate him and for him to pass over six plugs of tobacco
and a bran new pair of shoes and I would send him back a pair of boots
that cost me eight dollars in Yankee money or would be worth a few hun-
dred in Confederate money. So he passed over his shoes and tobacco. I
threw the boots as far as I could, divided the tobacco with our boys and
skipped out among the prisoners. Johnny came back and wanted to find
the Yank. My boots were fuH of holes. The rebel shoes did me good
service in months to come. Our regimental colors being left standing
against the tent unguarded, we took the liberty of taking the banner, as it
was dark, and ere the guard was aware, had it all torn up into ribbons and
divided among the Third Iowa and lots of other soldiers and hid away in
our clothes. The rebels didn't have any time to search ; for our boys were
worrying them up in the front. Joe Fitchpatrick stole one of the guard's
tin pail with his day's rations, quite a sharp trick. Old Joe was always a
good-natured fellow and divided up. of course. Xo one saw the reb's
rations.

Remaining at .Atlanta a few days, we were ordered to move out. and
various were the rumors the rebs told us that Sherman was falling back and
all of the Seventeenth Corps was taken and McPherson was killed and
nianv more sucli reports. We moved out on the road that night and in
marching six miles we reached Eastpoint about midnight. Remaining there
ne.xt day and night and no rations being issued, we began to feel the jiangs
of hunger. I'y the morning of the 24th we were furnished three rotten
crackers and a small jiiece of meat for three days' ration and started for
some place, we didn't know where, but found out sooner than we wanted
to. We marched to Griffin, Georgia, some forty-five miles, passing through
several small towns, singing our national songs, giving them to understand
although jirisoners we were not going to forget our old flag. We drew
small rations of corn bread and bacon on the morning of the 28th of July
on board of cars. .V West \'irginia command guarded us and on conversing
with them many appeared to have been conscripted into the army and to
be very sick of the war, but all had to keep silent.

'I"he rebel rag being placed on top of the cars as we started for our
prison, the citizens would ask us how we liked those colors over us. In
some of the people I discovered a spark of symiiathy. They soon under-
stood that we weren't sick of it. for this was our second enlistment and
Old Abe had many more to follow. We aimed to give them back as gooil
as they sent us and were at times quite saucy; that afternoon two of the
cars ran off the track. In fact, the track had been torn up some by some
of our cavalry boys. Some of the guards were hurt severely. We marched
up to a field till the road was fixed. Some tried to escape, but no go. Soon
we were jumbled into a train from Macon like so many hogs, filthy cattle

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY . 287

cars, and at noon on the 29th of July reached the station at Andersonville,
Georgia.

ARRIVED AT ANDERSONVILLE.

Here we marched up to outside the stockade, counted off in squads of
ninety men and were searched again. 1 was hiding a case knife in the sand,
Captain Wirz came around and jerked me by the collar. Old Joe recog-
nized him as an old rebel friend when he was prisoner at Shiloh, a friend
he didn't want to see very often. We marched into the stockade. Such a
sight — the boys asking us if there was any talk of being exchanged and
hollering out to us "fresh fish," and no shelter from the hot July sun, men
dying right before us ; wounded men with their wounds full of maggots —
such a sight, and we thought we knew all about soldiering! There was a
crowd in that prison pen of seventeen acres (exclusive of swamp and dead
line there seemed to be no more than thirteen acres) and caged in that
small space was some thirty-two thousand human beings, all for their de-
votion to their government, and some had been prisoners for over a year.
The majority were, you might say, nearly naked; some were so tanned that
it was almost impossible to tell whether they were whites or negroes; a
great many were lying down unable to arise, lots were picking lice from
their bodies and looking upon us as if they were bereft of reason; many
would inquire what corps, what battle, how it had gone, but all wanted
something about exchange. We would tell the poor boys we hadn't heard
anything about prisoners or exchange, as we had never dreamed about us
being at this place. Pen and ink can't depict the dismay that was pictured
upon their countenance ; and well they might feel so discouraged, as my own
personal experience taught me ere I made my escape. Oh, chilling horrors !
When I look back my heart becomes sickened and I must say, on no battle
field have I seen such a sight ; and although life is sweet, yet sooner than
remain in that southern bastile month after month, I would prefer death.

Being marched into an open place called main street, we were all left
in a huddle with the assurance that if we were not at roll-call next morn-
ing our detachment would be minus one day's rations. We were divided,
ninety in a mess with a sergeant. Also the stocks were pointed out to us,
which was a frame-work. The unfortunate would be placed standing
against it and a collar put around his neck ami screwed to the frame, hands
being extended at full length and fastened by ropes, remaining in that po-
sition all day in the sun and rain — for most every afternoon we would have
a shower, making the ground wet for us to lie down on. I hadn't been in
an hour when I laid my hand on a rail to step over and get a good place
against the stockade, wondering why the boys didn't lay over — in a place
better than where they were lying. I had no more than got ready to get
over, when one of the old prisoners yanked me back and pointed to one
of the guards who had drawn his gun. It stood the old prisoners in hand
to look out for the new prisoners, for if the guard missed the one they in-

288 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

tended, they couldn't miss all of them. It was said they got thirty days'
furlough for every Yank that got over the dead line. During our stay I
saw several get over the dead line to he shot.

GETTING SETTLED.

We boys soon found we would have to fi.x up some abode or headquar-
ters, which was indeed a severe task ; for the place was so crowded and the
old prisoners were so discouraged and alienated from all principles of hu-
manity that it was im[)Ossible to receive an answer to any question, only
when you would talk about exchange ; then all would crowd around us. We
boys agreed to stay by and help each other, let come what would. I began
to look around, thinking perhaps we might find some of our unaccounted
boys. Lew Harris and Tom Davis, who were missing on the Meridian
raid. When Lew Harris came up, such a change as had come over him!
The strong hearty athletic soldier; a poor enfeebled being who could hardly
walk, and sunburned so black that I should not have known him, only by
his voice. I inquired about Tom Davis, but poor Tom died on the 7th of
the month (July) ; his last words were about his mother. Tom was a fine
specimen of a man, large, well built and very powerful — as much so as any-
one in the Third Iowa. Others of the regiment coming who were prisoners
on that raid presented the same downcast picture that Lew did. A few had
died and some of the boys couldn't stand up to talk to us. My comrades
were, like myself, unable to form a positive opinion what was best to do.
yet soon began to think and feel sensibly that we might remain there all
night, and as it was the same to the rebels. Company E went into an or-
ganization of mess, J. A. Fitchpatrick, Jess Dunn, Gus Kendall, C. K.
'Aldridge, Jim Trotter and myself, and in a few days John Fitchpatrick
of the Fighth Iowa Cavalry (Stoneman's raiders) came in with a haversack
full of coffee. I saw him first as he came into the stockade and informed
him as soon as possible that Joe was here. As he met his brother, he re-
marked : "What a h 1 of a place to meet a brother in this southern bas-

tile!"

That evening we drew a small piece of corn bread about two inches
square. The meal hadn't been half ground and the bread was most all
crust and burnt. We also drew a piece of bacon and it was very rotten,
but as we were almost starved ere we reached the prison, we were eager
to cat the ration that was given us. and soon lying down on mother earth,
for we hadn't any blanket, the mantle shades of night wrapped its cloak
around us. I think we all thought of home and the events of the past week,
and Init little sleep I procured that night. Hunger stared me in the face,
and an occasional shot from the sentinel along the dead line sending some
unfortunate to his long home made the night long and dismal.

Day at last dawned, and taking a walk along the dead line I witnessed
sights which will never be forgotten. A Union soldier fell across the line

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 289

who was so weak he couldn't stand — unintentionally fell over — and the
cowardly home guards shot him down. The dead line was of stakes driven
in the ground thirty feet from an inner stockade, running parallel, the
stakes about three feet out of the ground and scantling laid on top and
spiked. Such sights as I witnessed on the first morning were of frequent
occurrence. We became used to it in time and became seemingly as hard-
ened as the old prisoners. At times soldiers would tunnel out but there
were several packs of bloodhounds, and the fiends incarnate as from the
lower regions would follow after and soon overtake the poor boys and they
would come back all torn and mangled by the dogs and then be placed in
the stocks for twenty-four hours in sight of the prisoners and perhaps their
mess of ninety men would lose a day's ration. So the boys were thinking
about their rations and some would inform on the tunnelers. One who
had been informing was branded on his forehead with a hot iron a big T
for traitor. Several of the boys climbed up trees and preferred being shot
to death than come down to be torn by dogs and sent back.

The mortality was so great that it was impossible to carry the dead sol-
diers out fast enough ; so the rebels gave every two Yanks the privilege of
carrying out a dead soldier and coming in with a few sticks of wood. The
little it was would only warm our ration. Our mess put some corn bread
in water and made coffee after we used up the real coflfee that John Fitch-
patrick brought in. I have seen boys fuss, quarrel and fight over a dead
soldier, all wanting to carry him out. While I was there I carried out one
of our sergeants, Chapman, of Company G, who had been taken prisoner a
year before. He had been vaccinated by rebel doctors who came in order-
ing us to bare our arm. It killed the most of them, and the poor boys would
go and bathe their arms and wounds in the small branch that we used water
from which was bad enough with the slime and offal from the rebel camps
and cook houses above us.

GETTING SUPPLIES AT ,\NDERSO.N'VILLE.

Some of the old prisoners had a little extra wood which they would
sell. Joe sold his watch to a Johnnie for $20 in Confederate money, which
helped our mess out ; and Gus Kendall was good on trafffcking and bought
some extra rice from the rebel sergeants. Gus told me to try my hand.
So one morning I started out with a few tablespoon fuls of cooked rice
either to get some tobacco, wood or money ; but I ran across a starving,
wounded soldier who couldn't stand up and gave it to him. Of course, Gus
didn't send me out any more. As soon as a soldier would die, any clothes
that could be used would be stripped off him, and men would fight over the
dead soldier's clothes. The first of such sights horrified us, but being in
there for a year and nearly naked, it seemed useless to bury the dead soldier

290 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

with clothes that would help to prolong the lives of the wretched ones. So
in time we got used to all the dreadful sights. Every one was so distrustful
of another that no one would lend a cup or pan except, say to our own
mess or to those who came in last. Our mess had a coffee pot, for when
the rebs captured me I picked up the coffee pot and was allowed to keep
it : and it answered a very good purpose. Also some of the boys retained a
canteen. John Fitchpatrick came in with a blanket and canteen, and a few
of the Third Iowa boys had some cups. So we managed to get along that
way. .Many of the men would eat their day's rations at once and then not
one-quarter enough. Some would divide in two meals. Some would make
three meals. Our mess would make at times one meal, but generally three
meals; not that we had any more than enough for one mess.

TH1-: R.MDERS.

.Men became so hardened that it wasn't safe to lay anytliing down, and
it was impossible to find out the guilty ones, more particularly among the
old <ktachnients. .A sliort time before our lot came in six soldiers belonging
to New York city were hung by the prisoners in the stockade. They were
a lot of toughs from Sing Sing prison who were enlisted only to get out
of the penitentiary. There was a secret band of a few hundred who could
spot a soldier coming in and if he was supposed to have any money, blan-
kets, etc., at night a lot of them would come over and rob him; or if he
showed fight, kill him or any one who would help him. They were termed
"raiders." and many a poor soldier had a razor drawn across his throat. So
their word was either to get your throat cut or hand over, and they were
gone. So strongly entrenched were they that a few couldn't do anything;
and matters seemingly jirogressed to such an alarming extent that men be-
gan making clubs out of their rations of wood for self-defense. .\t last it .
was seen necessary to take the matter in hand. .\n organization was ef-
fected wiili the assistance of the rebel officers who remarked that if mat-
ters progressed that way lonj^. they wouldn't have an\- Yanks left. The
police force being organized, they received an extra ration. .After that a
charge on the raiders and a liig light. Lots nt Jieaiis were smashed, the
raiders arrested, the ringleaders given a trial, found guilty of murder and
hung. It wound up the raiders. The ])olice being kept on duty, there was
a chance for a soldier to sleep without a razor drawn across his throat.
Then a court was organized, judge appointed, and in case of theft a him-
dred lashes on the back, or buck and g.ig. I'.y <uch means peace and good
order were restored.

It was bad enough to be starving to death and shot at by guards without
being murdered by one another. One ni),'ht I felt very sick and wished for
a drink. I had got half way to the branch when the cry of "raider, raider"
went up and all started toward mc. tliinking, I suppose, I was one. So I

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 291

dropped down where I was and the crowd went on. So I just stayed where
1 was till morning and let the water go.

NEWS OF EXCHANGE.

An occasional paper would come giving glaring accounts how the Yanks
were getting defeated, Sherman's army being cut off and the Confederacy
acknowledged by England, with lots of talk about exchange. The late
prisoners would take in lots of the stuflf, but the old prisoners were used to
the rebel lies and said, when they could be in our lines then they could be-
lieve in the exchange.

SICK CALL.

Every morning they would have a surgeon's call ; at times though, they
would miss a day or two and a sick soldier, if he had any one who would
pack or help him to the gate, would receive medicine, which was simply
sumack berries. At times the surgeon would fail to come, and there would
be so many there that the sick would have to wait nearly all day ere they
would be attended to. Many would die there. Some would be so sick
that it would be useless to carry them back ; and as one place was as good
as another for sick or well, the sick soldier would be left along the dead
line to end his sufferings. The principal disease was scurvy, and men were
lying around in all kinds of shapes, limbs much swollen with blotches all
over them and covered over with great sores with maggots in them, and
the poor boys were unable to help themselves. In fact, no one could do
any good : for no medicine would help. Lots of the boys lost all their
teeth and gums dropped out of the head.

My gums being affected, I began to think our mess would be in as bad
shape as the rest of the old prisoners if we stayed long enough. Many very
heavy showers we had during the summer, and quite a number who were
unable to sit up or stand on their feet were drowned and hardly a look of
compassion cast upon them, as all had become habituated to such sights.
It was "soldier, mind thyself." The Third Iowa boys aimed to be as agree-
able as possible and our mess tried to live in each other's affections and
formed resolutions that we would take care of one another. Many were
the surmises in regard to our prospects for the winter, and we would settle
down to the fact that if we were not out in October, we would be prisoners
all winter.

FLANKING OUT FOR EXCHANGE.

Matters progressed in such manner till the first of September, when it
was currently reported that at last we were to be exchanged. And what
made the report look like truth was that the Macon Telegraph came into
our prison yard with an article from one of our leading papers stating to
the people of the world that the Federal government at last would exchange.

292 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

and on the evening of September 21, orders were received for eighteen de-
tachments to be ready to move out — about 3,000 men. Next morning the
men began to move out, and glad were the hearts. Smiles were pictured
upon the countenances of men who hadn't smiled for months or a year —
lucky fellows ! I wished I was with them and I would give all I ever ex-
pected to have on earth if I could only go out with them. Such like ex-
pressions were heard on every side. Some of the boys "flanked out," that
is, found out the name of some soldier who had died that was on the list
to go out, then answered to his name. The penalty for flankers was to be
put in the stocks or bucked and gagged. The talk was all of exchange, and
a great effort must be made to get out, for there was fear that the com-
missioners would have a row. (>ur own General B. F. Butler got his full
rations of cussings. The 3d Jowa boys were in the one hundred and seven-
teenth detachment, and as they were commencing with the lower numbers
we of course would be the last that would go out, and then before our time
came there would be another row about exchange.

So we boys talked, "flank." Some would ratJier die at once than re-
main in the stockade or "I'lull pen," as we called it. The jiunishment
seemed great for flanking yet we made up our minds it must be done. Sev-
eral of the 3d boys flanked out on the evening of the 7th and on the even-
ing of the I I (ius Kendall was missing. So we knew lie had tried it. and as
we couldn't see him in the stocks, we thought him lucky (ius. Next even-
ing Jim Trotter and myself concluded we would try the flank movement, and
John Fitchpatrick and Joe, his brother, would try it the next night. Jess
Dunn and Kime .\Idridge would next evening attempt it. I'efore we started
I had a talk with Lew 1 larris who was unable to sit up on his bed which
was no more than the bare ground.

Soon the long looked for train arrived that was to carry the prisoners
away, and many fears arose in my mind how we would make it, for it
didn't look very comfortable to see the boys in the stocks and old Capt.
W'irz cussing us all the time, .^lill we were bound to try to get out at
all hazards. The thirty third detaclinient being ordered u]). Jim and I fell
in. It seemed so me my heart came up. Jim and I wanted, you might say,
to embrace each other to think we were to he exchanged ; and we were
sorry that our other boys were not along. The officers at the gate remarked
to the guards that if any flankers were discovered to run a bayonet through
them ! Well I felt "rather in spots," a common phrase of the soldier, but
there was no detection as we passed beyond the stockade, and once more
on open ground, we felt happy. \\'e were strongy guarded up to the de-
pot, and the guards on the train were very courteous to us, wishing us a
safe arrival to the Federal lines. We believed the guards really thought
we were going to be exchanged. At last on board of the train, as we cast
our eyes back, we tliought we could never find a worse place, as John Fitch-
patrick used to call it then the "American Bastile." We congratulated our-

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 293

selves, and our fortunate "flank" rather made us blue that our other boys
weren't along.

FROM ANDERSONVILLE TO FLORENCE.

On the night of the 12th one small ration was given us, a small piece of
corn cob bread and an inch square of rotten bacon, which we got away
with in short time. We were soon rolling out like so many hogs packed
away in dirty cattle cars and guarded. The guards were on top of the
cars. Some car doors were bolted and some had an inch of space left in the
door. A few of the boys who had pen knives cut holes through the cars
to let air and light in as we were nearly smothered, and numbers died.
We had many stops on the way. and the citizens thought we were going to
be exchanged. Some were very kind to us in words, but only a few could
see them through the holes cut in the cars and cracks in the door. Arriving
at Augusta, Georgia, we remained a few hours and then on to Columbia,
S. C. Then we began to fear and doubt yet were not willing to run any
risk; for we might be well enough for all we knew yet. Some of the boys
had got a hole big enough cut through during the night to get out of, but
few got away. If the shot failed to hit the escaping prisoner the train was
stopped, the neighborhood was aroused with blood hounds and he was soon
run down. Remaining at Columbia a short time, we soon were moving
out again. We were told that our ships had failed to arrive at Pensacola,
Florida, and we must be quiet on the train as it was not their fault, and
lots more such stuff. What was our dismay to find out that we were to
stay at Florence, S. C, a short time, so we were informed, to await our
ships ; and we began to realize that it was another prison instead of
exchange.

FLORENCE .\ND NO R.ATIONS.

We were ordered off the cars and marched up to a field surrounded by
swamps. Soon great droves of negroes were set to work with pick, shovel
and axes ; and the awful reality soon appeared that we were in for another
pen. But it was a change from our former one, and so we consoled our-
selves. The commander of our new prison seemed to be a fair good soldier
and lamented so many being sent to him. In fact he was not expecting
any company of our kind and he had no rations for any but his own men,
which made rations look serious to us, for we had only drawn one day's
rations on the cars and had been on them several days. So before we drew
any rations we were pretty well starved out — some five days on a pint of
corn meal: A great many died, just died before our eyes. Yet I must
think our Major was a humane man, for he regretted it so much and sent
negroes in all directions to hunt food for us. He had been a prisoner
among the Federals and had just returned. He informed us that he had
been used very well, and he would like to do all he could for us. It seemed

294 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

to us he regretted how he was located. He had been in the regular army
and had worn the United States uniform.

The night of the 15th passed slowly away, and most all could be seen
meditating some plan of escape. Some were making clubs to fight their
way out, as there was .some timber on the place and the guards were the
militia men. They were old boys and young boys. There were no old
soldiers to guard us and no stockade. Yet quite a number died during the
night. So many gave up all hope and just lay down and died. The night
seemed bitter cold, as we were nearly naked. I had no shirt but an old
piece of coat and Jim only a piece of shirt, and we were the only ones of
Co. E, there, though a few^ of the 3d Iowa boys came in later. By constant
walking Jim and I kept from jierishing from cold. Morning dawned, but
no rations. Climbing a tree I ate very freely of leaves, which made me feel
quite sick. .\ few of the boys had some rings and some had a little pocket
change which they had managed to hide when being searched and which
helped them out. as they bought some corn from the guards at the rate of
one dollar to two per ear. All day passed away and no rations ; but late
in the atterndon a load of corn meal Ikivo in sight and it was with great
difficulty tliat the starved boys could be kept away. Guards had to be
<lnul)lc(l and then we had to be imdcr organization as messes of one hundred
in a mess. It was long after dark and by the time it was dealt out to us it
was ])ast midnight. .\ great many ate their meal raw. Jim and I managed
to bake ours on a chip we found by some tire. The fire I had to cook our
meal on nearly cost me my life. I took a rail off the fence against orders.
An officer close by saw me and made a dive with his saber but I dodged
and hung on to the rail. The boys crowded around and bothered the officer
so that I got away and saved the rail too. But guards having orders to
shoot the first one who laid hand> on a rail. ]n\{ an end to rails for fuel.

PLANNING ESC.\PE.

Well, as we had been five days on just one day's ration of corn meal
those that coidd stand uj) were in for fight or escape. That night Jim
and 1 meditated escape the first cliance we got, but we must keep together
and. if need be, die together. We saw the necessity of getting out, for in
a few days the stockade would be up and an all winter stay assured. The
morning of the 17th dawned at last, and a lovely one it was. All nature
shone out with its resplendent beauty and yet there we were incarceratc<l
antl treated like barbarians by ]»eople professing Christianity and calling
upon Ciod to look down upon their cause as just and good. A general stir
seemed to be getting u|> in camj). Some wouUi be in for dashing on the
guarfls and cutting our way out with fists and clubs, then cut the telegraph
wire, seize the train, run as close as we could to Wilmington. X. C, then
march to Xewburn, N. C, which was the nearest point of our lines. It

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 295

was hard to find a leader as all wanted a say ; and we had spies among us,
and soon we were given to understand our plans were known and prepared
for. Yet some would dash away from the guards while going after water,
but most all would be captured ere they had gone far. Others no doubt
died in the swamps, as there were plenty of swamps around us.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

THE ESCAPE UF ROBERT CAMPBELL.

Captain Cam])bcirs story of liis imprisonment and escape, as begun in
the preceding chapter, is continued as follows :

Tiiii 1!ki:ak for liberty.

The Major commanding gave tlie boys a chance to pick up rails and
wood, and sinnihaneously a grand rush was made pell-mell over the guards
and across tiie field, and as Jim Trotter and I had been watching all the
morning for a favorable chance, we were not slow in rushing for freedom.
So through the bush and into the swamps, meeting squads of our soldiers,
some running while others were walking unable to run or move very fast!
So many were affected by scurvy and starved nearly to death. Some picked
up sticks to fight their way through, others to help them along. In passing
through the corn field men would stoj) anil fill up on green corn, eating
blades like cattle, they were so hungry. Jim and myself only halted long
enough to eat a few ears, then ])lunging into the swamp we were soon lost
and at sea, for our desire was to get away from the rebs. While we were
thinking which way to go, we heard a blood hound coming our way, so we
ran up an inclined tree which had nearly fallen down, just as the hound
passed by. The dog was on some other prisoner's track and we felt sorry
for the poor fellow.

IN TlIK SW.\MPS.

On consultation we thought Xewbern, North Carolina, would be our
point for escape and soon we were joined by two New York soldiers who
wished to go along ; yet we would rather be by ourselves ; for the smaller
the crowd the less liability of detection. But as they were so anxious to be
with us. we concluded to travel together. .Ml the weapons we had were an
old case knife; and wc had no masks, combs, matches or any guide what-
ever. Our arrangement was that if we were captured by one or two per-
sons, we would quietly submit and on a signal seize the guards, disarm them
and tic them to trees or if necessary shoot them with their own guns, rather
than go back to die in prison. Our course as laid out was to strike the rail-

296

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 297

road running to Wilmington, North Carolina, and at night to follow the
line of railroad, crossing the various rivers which lay in our way. The
rivers were large, and we were poor swimmers and poor in flesh. Jim could
nevertlieless make the swimming all right, but where one couldn't go the
other didn't, was our feeling to one another — at least so far as Trotter and
myself were concerned.

If on searching the east side of Cape Fear river we could get across the
bridge, we would strike north ; yet we were rather afraid that as there were
so many Yankee prisoners escaped, all the bridges would be well guarded.
Traveling all day in the swamp we reached at night, the road, and going
on several miles we ran onto the trestle work leading across the Great Pedee
river swamp. Not knowing what time a train would come along, we con-
cluded to try it anyhow. When we had gone half way across the swamp we
thought we heard the cars, and on looking down to the bottom of the trestle
we saw we would have to jump some fifty feet or so or else let ourselves
hang onto the braces of the bridge. Some of us boys thought we could
lie between the ties, hang on with one leg over and the other down. But
luckily no train came and we had our an.xiety for naught.

RECAPTURED ON GREAT PEDEE BRIDGE.

Looking at the river, it seemed to be a large one, large enough for boats.
We were thinking the bridge was guarded, and Trotter was the only one
who could swim the river. Even at that we were afraid the river was full
of alligators, and the night was cold and chilly. Proceeding cautiously along
on the bridge one of the boys remarked that he thought he saw some one
pass on the road on the opposite side of the bridge. So taking off our shoes
— three of us had shoes — we went on making no noise. I took the lead,
for I wanted to because the boys wanted to go back on some other road,
swim or make a raft. They seemed to think it was certain capture to go on
the bridge, which soon proved to be too true, so I requested tiie boys to keep
back some distance, and if I was shot or taken their chances were better to
get away. I had gone nearly across when three soldiers sprang out in front
of us demanding a surrender. There was no other show : and as the other
boys had followed close up to me, they also were prisoners. I felt rather
bad about it, as it was my fault, our going on to the bridge. And then to
think we were going to be prisoners perhaps all winter, starving to death —
once I thought I would run and let them shoot me.

Being led off, we found ourselves in presence of a lieutenant who was
in charge of the bridge. I took notice that we were on the east side of the
Great Pedee river and that looked favorable and Jim and I began to think
of escape. Our first salutation from the lieutenant was "Who in h — 1 are
you any how?" answering his own cjuery with, "O d — m Yankees." I could
see that he was no old soldier and took a dislike to him. He abused us by
his tongue that we were d — m prisoners that had escaped and we would

298 HISTORY OF STORY COUXTY

have a good time getting away from him. Our orders were to lie down,

with tlie orders that for any attempt to escape or get on our feet we would
be shot. So he left us in cliarge of a guard, remarking that he would have
more fresh fish before long. Heing taken to a chip fire we discovered ten
"Yanks" some of whom had been captured like us in crossing the bridge
and others while swimming the river. Some potatoes were handed us, for
the guards were pretty good fellows. By morning our numbers were aug-
mented to twenty prisoners, and we were taken half a mile oflf to a station
house and locked in. By nine a. m. a piece of corn bread and meat was
handed each of us, the guards still being good fellows. Lots of curious
visitors came to take a look at us and most likely they thought we looked
like other people.

COMPANION.S IN DIS-VPl'OINTMENT.

One of the doors being left ()|)cn, we discovered that we were on the
bank of the river and near a ship yard, where a small gunboat was being
built. We found that our guards were all militia who were hastily collected
to guard us. During the day our numbers were increased to twenty nine
and our guards were very kind to us wishing they had some extra clothing
they could give us, and all Ijeing very desirous of the termination of the war
and quite talkative. By four p. m. we had more corn bread and bacon, and
were informed we would receive two meals a day. Our rations were short
but so much better than at .Andersonville. During the night we found an
old piece of a saw in the building which had been overlooked, sawed a hole
in the floor, and two very small boys got away ; but I never knew how they
made it. After they got out of the building, some larger ones tried to get
out. but the sills were too close to the ground and among roots while we
had nothing to dig with. Near morning we were nearly chilled to death;
for the night was cold and raining, and we liad no blankets and were half

clad.

.\ lUMi'Tiiirs i.ii;i:ti-;n.\nt.

Morning apjieared and Jim and 1 talked escape at the earliest moment.
The guards had built a good fire outside and were all clustered around it
e.xcept those on duty, who patroled aroiuid the building. This was a long
one and was near a town or village named Marion, it having been the home
of General Marion of Revolutionary fame. The lieutenant coming up re-
marked we would be lucky if we should ground enough to cover us in a few
days. Then we would not trouble him any more. Keeping up such talk all
along he would add that he was a South Carolinian and he would capture
old Billy Sherman himself. At that I laughed at him and told him a score
of such men could not even look at him let alone taking him jirisoncr. How
he did foam and swear running at me with his sword ! I dodged under his
arm and could have easily tripjicd him if I had dared. I walked off to the
far end of the building, and he got calmed down and informed me I must

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 299

not insult him any more or he would punish all of us. He passed out tell-
ing his boys that he would hold them responsible for us.

ESCAPED AGAIN.

When the lieutenant had gone, the guards came and had a long talk
with us boys. At the west end of the building which, as I said, was a long
one and a depot for the railroad, was a door secured by an iron bolt. We
took in the situation, so ate our rations and got ready to go out if we could
spring the bolt. Some tried the bolt and when the guards would go around
that way one of the boys would signal for to keep still, as he was by the door
that was open then some would sing to drown the noise of the breaking of
the bolt; and one Massachusetts soldier, being a tine singer, favored the
Rebs with their "Bonnie Blue Flag" and "Di.xie" and our own songs. They
seemed to be well taken in with the music and all were huddled around
the fire as it was raining and cold. A few of the boys got up a dance in
front. Trotter had sat down on the floor leaning against the wall in a deep
study and seemingly asleep, when the bolt broke, the boys began passing out
for liberty and I made a spring for Jim Trotter. Ten "Yanks" had gone
out by the time we came to the door and soon we were out into the woods
brushing by the Yanks who had gone out but who were lame.

IN THE SWAMPS.

After halting a short time to see which way we were going, two more
soldiers came, increasing our company to four. The day being cloudy we
were at a loss to know which way to go. Trotter took the lead as he was
tlie most expert of any of us in guiding and we soon ran into a lot of wood
clioppers. Hastily taking a right oblique and they not seeing us, we soon
got out of that part of the Confederacy, but finding it impossible to travel
on account of the cloudiness, we lay by in a swamp till late in the afternoon,
when the sky clearing off, we struck out through the swamp. But we had
gone only a short distance when it became cloudy again, and we just re-
mained there all night. We climbed a small brushy tree and sat on a limb
all night and a fearful one it was. Each of us got a club for protection, but
nothing troubled us except millions of mosquitoes and the fact that we could
hear all kinds of noises all night.

Morning at last dawned upon us and we could hardly recognize each
other as our faces were all swelled up. I seemed to be the worst one as my
teeth were all loose and some had gone out with the giuus. We took the
backward move as we couldn't tell if we were going the length or breadth
of the swamp. We were in water from knee to waist deep, and there was
no dry land. We were badly cut up with briars and vines which went from
tree to tree. Reaching the woods again we thought we were indeed lucky

300 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

to get out of that God-forsaken place; and if it had continued raining and
cloudy we never should have maile the woods except by accident.

TRAVELING I.N" .\ CIRCLE.

Flanking the sw-amp and it raining again, we made slow time for New-
burn, N. C, the sun being our only guide. Remaining till night which was
a dark one and several roads being before us, we took as we su])posed the
right one. We walked on verj' cautiously till late at night when we became
alarmed lest we were on the wrong road. So moving up to a negro hut
Trotter incjuired where we were, telling the negroes we were Yankees and
not to tell any one. which they agreed to. They seemed alarmed and hardly
knew what a \'ankee was. only as they had been told ; but on being assured
that we would not harm them they told us we were close to Marion and
half a mile from our late prison, the R. R. warehouse. We had taken the
wrong road and had been going right back to where we had escaped from
a few days before. On learning the right road we started in a great hurry,
although we were very hungry and although the negro said he would cook
us something to eat ; but we were rather too anxious to get away from that
place. So we parted from the darkey with a fervent "God bless de
Yankees."

Traveling till near morning we espied a light in a hut ; and as we had
gone some ten miles and were very hungry, we concluded to run some risk
for something to eat, as we hadn't eaten anything for several days. I
crawled up to the door and looking through an aperture discovered an old
woman by a fire. On my knocking at the door the woman inquired who we
were. I informed her we were Confederate soldiers going home on fur-
lough and would be thankful for a bite to eat. She told us she hadn't any-
thing cooked, but if we would wait till daylight she would bake us some
bread, and just as I was going to tell her we would, I discovered there were
two men getting out of bed. So I took the hint and remarked w^e would lie
out in the barn till morning and call in for our bread. Crawling back to my
comrades and informing them what I had seen, it was soon concluded to
move out of that part of the Confederacy; for no doubt the men would be
after us. Before I left I picked of? the line a very large towel which I made
do for a shawl.

HIDING .\ND .ST.\RVING.

Our plan now was that we must get somethinj,' to eat before morning
and we must get as far away as possible. So making extra efforts and
coming to a cornfield we took several ears apiece and went into a swamp for
safety. We remained there all day, ate our corn, slept on a log that was out
of the water, and several times we were startled by the baying of the hounds
perhaps on our track. We thought, however, we were safe from the blood-
hounds as long as we remained in the swamp. Xight coming on and also

]\Iciiioiial Evaiii;i>liciil l.iitlic'inii Ci-iitial l'ic~l)ytciiaTi

St. l'atiic-l<'s Catlicilir
( hiirrli ol ( liri-t M.'llHi.li^t K|iisc-ii|i.il

GROUP OF XKVADA CHrHCHKS

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 301

very heavy rain, we started. Nothing happened to bother us till near morn-
ing, when we met a man on horseback with a sack of meal. Having no time
to step aside, we were of course discovered. Trotter remarked we would
have to keep our eyes open, for the Rebs would soon be after us with the
dogs and we had found out from a negro that there was a pack in the
county near by. So going into the woods and each one picking out a tree
in case the dogs did appear or give notice by their baying or barking we
passed the day in dreary suspense with nothing to eat but ears of raw corn.
Night coming on found us on the road ; but on holding council we con-
cluded to take to the woods; for the night was clear and the stars shone
so brightly that we had some guide which we had been in great need of, when
the nights were dark and rainy. Meeting a negro he informed us that all
the Reb soldiers around were on the hunt for the escaped Yankees. This
made traveling much more difficult on account of so many escapes, and they
all seemed to be making for Newbern, N. C, besides many negroes doing
the same thing. Also some of the Rebel army were deserting and we were
liable to be picked up at any moment. We hadn't gone far ere we discovered
squads of cavalry ; but as we were on the lookout, we were ready to drop
out of sight. Remaining till morning, we were just so weak and hungry
that we were unable to speak plainly to one another. During the day it
rained some ver>' heavy showers, drenching us well and we became so numb
from cold that we began to think we should perish. Night coming on and
still raining we walked out to the road expecting no one out such a night
as that excepting some unfortunate Yankee prisoner like ourselves. We
would take to the road and if we came upon a negro hut or some poor white
man's house would call for something to eat or for proper way to go, as we
were many times lost on account of cloudy weather and the north star not
being our guide.

FINDING FRIENDS.

We had gone but a few miles when we discovered a light and approach-
ing cautiously found a poor looking house. We aimed to avoid all the large
fine houses. My comrades remaining in the road concealed I walked up to
the door. The occupants were an old lady and a younger one. On my
stepping into the house they were much alarmed and were going to scream ;
but on being assured that I meant no harm they inquired who I was, I told
them I was a Confederate and my folks lived at Marion, N. C, and I was
going back to my regiment in North Carolina ; also there were three others
outside who were as hungry as myself, having eaten nothing for several
days but a few ears of raw corn. They informed us that they had noth-
ing in the house but if we would step down the lane to their father's he
would help us. Being suspicious I hesitated and in stepped my comrades.
I told the woman perhaps we would go, informing them that we were Yan-

Vnl. 1—20

302 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

kees instead of Confederates and excusing myself for telling them an
untruth. The old lady told us she had had her suspicions that we were
Union soldiers and seemed pleased instead of being frightened. They said
we had been abused in the Rebel prisons and they didn't blame us for hunt-
ing for the Union lines. They were heartily sick of the Confederacy; for
when they were in the Union they had all the comforts of life, enough to
eat, drink and to wear. She assured us that the old man wouldn't give us
away.

So they led the way to the other house and walking into the house the
old man came to us and extending his hand remarked "Boys, I am so glad
to see you, but this country is swarming with rebel cavalry who are out
hunting you boys." He informed us he had no meal, but a bushel of corn,
and said, "I will grind some in a coffee mill and by waiting an hour you
will have some bread, and if any one comes to the door get under the bed.
1 will du all 1 can for you for we did not have such times when Carolina
was in the Union." He said he had a son-in-law killed at Kenesaw moun-
tain, his daughter's husband, pointing over to the younger looking woman ;
and further said he. "I have a son who was severely wounded at Charles-
ton and just returned there to hosjjital yesterday: but. boys. I don't blame
the Yankees for it but the rich ])lanters. They all hold high office and don't
go to the army themselves but having the power come along and take all my
sons ofT with liandcufTs on and compel them to go." And he told us of
many of his neighbors who had been served the same way. The women
asked many questions in regard to what was going on up XortJi, and we
told them that all was prosperous and the men all volunteered and it didn't
seem like the country was involved in war, for all the loss was the absence
of the citizens. We told them so much that they just wished and prayed
that the Yankees would come on soon and they would go along.

Well the bread was baked and he gave to us the last jiiece of bacon that
was in the house, in fact we had all we wished to eat, and before we started
the old lady had another loaf baked.

ON Tllli RO.VD .\G.\IN.

We received directions from our hospitable friends, which directions
were to keep the road running north to Uenlonsport, North Carolina, some
twentv five miles, then we would avoid the varioiis rivers that we would
have to cross in going east. W'c were to flank the rivers or get to the head
waters of them. Our plans being arranged, whicli were to travel nights on
the road, they bade us good speed and wanted us to recollect them when we
came that way with the rest of the Union soldiers. The old man came out
with us to the road and soon we were striking out. It was very dark and
raining, — we never felt a more drenching rain, and we supposed it was a
good thing for us as no one would be out that night, and we wanted to

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 303

get over twenty miles before morning, for a good meal had done us so much
good, also the kind words we received from our friends.

A FRIENDLY PICKET.

But we had hardly gone a mile ere the demand "Halt ! surrender" grated
on our ears and a gun was pointing at our heads. Well, again prisoner!
Yet it was no use. We were fast, but all hope didn't die. Our having so
good a supper made us stout at heart, and it was my intention as well as the
intention of the other boys to dash into the woods. Being ordered about
face and not knowing how many were our captors and whispering to one
another, we made up our minds, if only one, we would settle him and then
into the woods. Advancing toward him we had about faced, and he be-
came alarmed, for sure enough he was alone; but on a short distance we
heard others tramping around. He told us not to tell any one, and he
would let us go. He told us to go on a little ways farther so we could talk
without being heard, so taking a right hand path we halted keeping an eye
on our captor. "Boys," says he, "I am as good a Union man as can be:
but I have to take my gun and hunt Yankees. This afternoon I was forced
to capture nine Yankees, and I am sorry for you. But boys you can't get
out of this country. H you are captured don't inform on me, for I should
be a gonner sure." So taking our direction in a north east course we gave
up our old laid road and bade him good by.

We struck out into the woods and had gone a mile, when we could hear
cavalry dashing around, and also it being very dark we began to think we
might run into danger, so we lay down in the woods. It was still raining in
very heavy showers, but day dawned at last, and the sun shone before we
made a start. We had not gone far. when we thought we heard tramping
not far off. So again lying down and recalling the events of the previous
night and our prospects for safe arrival in our lines, which indeed seemed
slim, we were yet determined not to give up, but with the help of Providence
we thought we must get through. In an hour or so we were again off,
traveling very cautiously. It was our intention to reach the Little Pedee
river by dark, and at night to cross. Our usual course was directed by the
majority with Trotter as guide and in the lead.

A TROUBLESOME COMPANION.

We had gone a few miles when we came to a large plantation and our
course lay directly across it about half a mile, while through the woods it
appeared at a guess three miles. Three of us agreed to crawl on our hands
and feet across the field before we should go around the three miles, as
we might run into some danger. The Frenchman soldier declared he would
go around and stated with an oath that we might go on our way. Well to
tell the truth, we didn't fancy him very much, and wished to be rid of him

304 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

many times ; as he was always contrary and a coward, and had made threats
to cut some of our throats some night; and as he had a knife we were
always on guard for him. So he went his way and we ours, lie had gone
a mile or so into the woods, when we heard him call several times, and we
made tracks as far and fast as possible as his calling would .soon liring the
rangers after us. We never heard of him afterward. We changed our
course for a few days to throw any one off track who might be after us.

ABOUT JIM TROTTER.

So with old Jim in the lead again we felt much better, as we three were
all in harmony. I never could forget "Old Jim." He was always willing,
brave and kind. .At times we would get so blue over our luck, but he was
on the bright side always and of good reasoning and a perfect guide. Many
a skirmish and hard-fought battle Jim and myself had been in, seeing our
old comrades fall by the foe ; and now we were making our escape from a
fate worse than instant death ; for we were, you might say, with hardly any
clothes on us, and poisoned by ivy briers and bleeding from sores, and
scorches. But to be taken back to rebel prison to starve and die — the more
we talked it over the stronger grew our determination to press on toward
the "North star," and if we ever reached our lines and saw our old boys
in blue, we could die contented that our friends would know what liad
become of us. Our Connecticut soldier comrade too was a first rate fellow
so far.

PROSPECTS FOR HELP.

Moving along that day was slow, as we were in a thickly settled coun-
try and came to a halt many times. Skulking through corn fields and woods
we became aware we must stop, and as we lay in a brush pile, children
would pass by playing and coming close to us unawares ; and several times
cavalry passed by. About dark a very heavy rain came on, chilling us very
much. But we always thought when it was raining there was less chance of
meeting any one. Then a big hail storm came on. pounding our, you might
say, nakedness. As soon as this storm was over, it being quite dark, we
lit out and had gone a half mile, when we beheld a person standing in the
road; and coming right into him, we had no time to hide. Says he, "Boys,
you are Yankees," and we discovered in his voice a degree of .sympathy.
Answering that we were and inquiring for some rations, we made the gen-
eral inqtn'ry who he was and where and what way would be best for us to
travel. He told us all the points where guards were statione^l, also that they
were aware that we were in the country, also that we were Yankees and he
said, spies. "Boys my father would be afraid to take you into the house;
it might be death to him." He made the request that we shouldn't tell
anyone that he had given us directions or had even been talking to us ; and
thanking him for his information, we again struck out. But we had pone

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 305

but a few hundred yards when we were hailed by the same young man, who
told us that his father wanted to see us. We were in a quandary to know
what was best, as the Little Pedee swamp and river were ahead of us ; but
on the young man's assurance that it was all riglit, we told him to lead on
and we would follow.

FRIENDS INDEED.

Soon reaching the planter's house, which was a neat looking one, we
were passed into the kitchen and the doors locked and blinds turned down.
Instantly the old man came out of another room, and walking up to us he
extended his hand giving us a hearty welcome, extending to us great
sympathy and making many inquiries. He was equally ready to answer all
questions, and his kind wife soon announced supper ready. As we took our
places at the table words, pen and ink can not depict what were our heart-
felt thanks and emotions on viewing such a repast. Cornbread, flour cakes,
potatoes, beans, meat, syrup and plenty of cider — we ate a sumptuous sup-
per, and took our chairs to the blazing fire, and as we looked around the
house and viewed the kind and anxious attention of the household toward
us and listened to the good man's story I truly felt sorry for him.

The old man had been very wealthy and had about used up his means
in keeping out of the army. He had some little left; but now he was en-
rolled for the next call to go to the front, as was his boy, and he would
have to go the next Vv'eek to the seat of war in Virginia. Also if he was
known to entertain Yankees he would be shot. If he only had his famliy
away he would bid farewell to his home, which he had built up and occupied
for sixteen years. Many were the questions asked by his kind wife, shed-
ding tears for us and offering to give us some clothes ; but we would not
take any; for we might be taken before we got out of the neighborhood
and the clothes be recognized ; but our Connecticut comrade Bryson Pad-
dock, accepted a pair of shoes, as he was barefoot.

As we had lingered long and rested and fed so well and might be dis-
covered, we took the advice of our Carolina friends in regard to the swamp
and how to cross the little Pedee river and the swamps we had a horror of,
though they afforded us good refuge. Our kind friend remarked that he
had lived there sixteen years and shouldn't like to cross the Pedee river
except on the bridge and that was guarded. He said, "I shall have to go
on duty tomorrow night ; but," he says, "boys, being as you have got away
so many times and Yankees at that, you may make it again." Cautioning
us not to give him away we were on the moment of starting when his wife
gave us eighteen large biscuits and a dozen sweet potatoes, a box of matches
and a newspaper. They having bidden us God-Speed, soon we were on the
road ; but as it was so dark and swamp ahead of us we took into wood
close by and there remained till morning. We charged ourselves to remem-
ber our benefactor's name, as we didn't wish to write it down and so to
imperil him or family ; I supposed we could remember it but I must say at

306 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

this writing I have forgotten it and can only remember iiis wife's maiden
name which was Campbell.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN.

Our lay out in the woods was a wet one as it was raining very heavy ;
but we expected to soon reach North Carolina and would likely find more
Union sentiment. The morning was very nice and warm. It had cleared
all up, and we could hear the songs of the negroes as they were going out
to their toil, and the birds singing. We could hardly think there was a cruel
war raging in our land. Yet we struck out skulking along, always on the
alert ; for we couldn't tell the moment when some of us would drop with a
bullet from an unseen enemy.

Coming suddenly on a road which we had to cross we began u> investi-
gate. Soon two women came along. Also a boy passed us, as we lay in the
fence corner. A favorable moment arrived and we darted across and into
the woods, and late in the afternoon came to the swamp. .\ heavy rain
coming on we waited till it was over, eating our biscuit. The rain being
over, w'e struck out again and soon reached the river bank. The river was
very high and running swiftly. The waters looked so cold and inky and we
gttessed it U< he about five rods wide. Looking along the bank and much
puzzled to know how far above the bridge we were, and not much time to
think. Trotter struck out with his clothes and came back and took some
of mine and Paddock's and off again. His good swimming qualities came
handy that time; for we two chaps couldn't have made it without Jim's help.
As it was, it was about all we could do. '1' rotter was to come in after us
if we liegau ti> '-ink. We went in one at a time, and after crossing wrung
our clothes out.

F.M.l.I.NC. \'.\ TMK WAV.

By the time tliat we had swam tlie river and dressed again we were
very cold ; but s(Xjn we were on the road ; for the swamp on the cast side
was but a short distance across. Coming very suddenly on the road we
came very near being discovered, as a horse and cart were coming along
with a man and boy in the cart. So falling on our faces and Inigging the
groiuid we let the cart jiass and were much relieved when it had dune so.
We again moved on but came near running into a house in the bru.sli. So
we condudefl to wait till dark and tiien to go on the road. Meanwhile we
suft'ered very much from cold. The wind began to raise and rain was blow-
ing, while we had to remain quite still ; and we became so cold that it was
with difficulty we couhl talk. Night came on with thimder and lightning.

From all this exposure Paddock became so done uji that he fell down
and couldn't speak. So we began to think fate was against us, when one
of our muul)cr was going to die in sucli a terrible storm. So we concluded
we would drag, carry or any way we could get hiiu to a house, lay Iiim by

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 307

the door, make a noise and skip away, as we couldn't think he could ever
get well and perhaps he might at least get a Christian burial. Just as we
began to start a negro came along, and we found out that he lived but a
short distance from where we were. So packing Paddock and gaining the
house by the rear way, we soon found ourselves beside a large fireplace.
With good amount of rubbing and warm teas he. Paddock, came to in a few
hours time: but Trotter and myself too were about as near gone as could be.
Jim's shirt had been torn off his back and I gave him mine ; for he had no
coat, while I had an old blouse. Our trousers were torn in shreds, and very
short, and could hardly hold.

StJCCORED BY NEGROES.

The house was soon filled up with curious negroes. Every one would
take a good look at the Yankees, and all seemed aware that we were their
friends. We were well filled up with corn bread and ineat ; and the negro
who had carried Paddock there gave Trotter a coat. As the old planter
began to stir around also the negroes told us he had taken a Yankee pris-
oner last night at his house and had sent him to Wilmington. So we
thought it time for us to travel. We told the darkies some wonderful tales
about our northern country and Mars Lincoln's men and how General Sher-
man was coming down and would set them free and give them the land ;
but we cautioned them not to tell the white folks at the big house what we
said. We parted from our darkey friends with a "God bless de Yankees"
and were again on our route through the woods feeling much better but
Paddock being rather the worse oft'.

A SUXDAV nv .\ CHURCH.

It was Sunday and as we had halted for a rest we happened to be not
far from a meeting house. We could see the people going back and forth
during the day, and we were afraid to venture forth ; for it seemed that the
whole neighborhood was out. The children would play around our hiding
place and sometimes come right close to us. But we lived well for the
darkey friends had given us a good supply, one large loaf of corn bread, a
lot of roasted corn, some sweet potatoes. Thought of our home came
vividly before us as we lay that Simday so close by the church hiding like so
many aniiuals instead of men enlisting for a good government. Our talk
run along in that way and wondering how we would get through our picket
line; for we looked so much like the Johnnies with our old duds on and
were tanned so much.

As night came on it found us on the road looking toward the Xorth
Star in some better spirits ; and we would say that by morning we would be
so much nearer the old Union flag, anyhow if nothing Iiappened. As it
was Sunday night, we met with several darkies who seemed to be loafing

308 HISTORT OF STORY COUNTY

around ; and when we would tell them we were Yankees, they would be so
amazed, but they always promised secrecy and we found out by informing
them we were Yankees it was so much the better way. And so too with
poor white folks for we discovered a great hatred between the poor whites
and wealthy planters. Xo adventure that night and at daylight we crossed
the railroad running to Wilmington, North Carolina.

SOME GOOD ADVICE.

Finding a good retreat in a small swamp, which was close by the rail-
road, we could see the trains go by ; and many times during the day negroes
and small boys passed by us singing and shouting, antl sometimes during
the day cavalry would go dashing by. As Drowning river was a short dis-
tance ahead we determined to attempt to cross it on the bridge at Lumbar-
ton ; for we didn't fancy the idea of swimming another river. The water
was cold and it had nearly cost Paddock his life swimming the Little Pedee
river. So remaining concealed all day, we were very much pleased when
night came on and striking out accidentally and fortunately for us we met a
citizen. We were going past him. but he came up to us and says, ."Boys don't
go on the bridge, for if you do you are captured." Trotter stepping up
asked him if he knew who we were. He said he thought we were the three
escaped Yankees he had heard so much about. Telling him we were Yan-
kees Jim Trotter asked him if he had any tobacco and as he had he divided
with us. He also informed us he was a good Union man and gave us direc-
tions how to flank Lumbarton ; for he said it was the county seat and court
week and there was a guard on the wagon bridge which is close to town.
We had been informed that the bridge w-as three miles below town and not
giaarded but that the railroad bridge was well guarded. But the facts were
just the reverse. The good friend we met advised us to cross the railroad
bridge and watch out for trains. He told us if we could only go to his house
we might rest up awhile, but it being five miles away to go there w-as in-
e.xpedient. So thanking him and with a God Speed from our good South-
ern friend, we passed out into the brush wondering what would l)e next
to come up.

CHAPTER XXIX.

ROBERT CAMPBELL REACHES FRIENDS.

FED BY COLORED FRIENDS.

After bidding our friend good bye, we were passing a negro hut, and
I walked in, telling the negroes that we were Yankees and very hungry,
which was a fact. They were very much frightened at the prospect of the
master's coming in and finding us Yanks, but we informed them we would
skip out if any one should come. They baked all the corn meal they had in
the house, though they would themselves do without, as they wouldn't draw
for two days, their rations being issued to them as to soldiers.

DROWNING RIVER.

Away again and coming on the railroad we traveled it very cautiously
and arrived at the bridge, which was a covered one and very dark. We
thought about our capture on the bridge of the Great Pedee river and hesi-
tated ; but we must go. So we went in crawling on our hands and knees for
it was so dark we couldn't see one another. Several times we came near
going through, as the ties seemed so far apart. Once we thought the cars
were coming, but happily it was a hand car and section hands. At last we
were over ; and taking a north course, by morning we had flanked Lum-
berton and were across Drowning river.

Again there was a heavy rain, and we had just got off the road into the
woods when we discovered a rebel and a Yankee, the latter being nearly
naked. Soon two more cavalry went dashing by: and we very quickly
took through the woods and lay down in the grass. As it was still raining
we couldn't course our way very well ; but night coming on and being
very dark, we got onto the road again and made very good time and be-
lieved we had walked twenty miles by daylight.

COMING TO CAPE FEAR RIVER.

We knew we had to cross the Cape Fear River, which a negro had in-
formed us was well guarded and further was navigable. Our aim was

309

310 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

to cross at Fayetteville, which was in our direct course; but finding out
that it w-ould be certain capture to go that way, it being morning and
we in considerable of a settlement, we lay by all day in a corn field, eating
raw corn and pumpkins. We were watching for some negro to go by so
we could find some way to cross the river, for it was quite wide. Night
came at last and I crawled up to reconnoiter a negro hut and hailed the
black man. who was very much alarmed and would look arounil. I
askeil him what he was looking at, and he told me he was looking for his
master to come every moment, and if he did he would take us and nearly
kill him. This negro had no meal in the house and by looking down the
road I espied the master coming. So out on the road again.

We were in hopes we would be able to cross the river before morning.
It was so well known that we were escapes and so many after us, that we
knew we must get across the river. Traveling all night along the banks
and looking for boat or skiff, during our search we came near being dis-
covered. Cape I-'ear River was about one quarter mile wide: and as Pad-
dock and myself were poor swimmers, we couldn't ihink of trying it on
the swim, thougli Jim could have made it. So wc undertook to make a
raft. We had no ax or knife, bm a raft nnist be made. So packing .some
pitch pine cord wood down to the bank and lashing sticks together with
hark and grape vines and our suspenders we had one ready, and we were
to shove it ofif. Jim was to guide it. and wc to hang on behind it. swim-
ming as well as we could. Laying our clothes on we siioved off the bank,
but the raft began >inking. The pitch ])ine would not float, as it was like
a water soaked log. So we gave up tliat plan and tore tiie raft to jneces,
layed the wood hack and obliterated every sign of ^'ankees being there.

FRIIS.NDS l'.\' Tin: W.W.

While we were at work souie negroes came ajonj; oii the opposite side
and luckily we were not di.scovered. Coiuliidiiig that we would have to
inquire and that even if the risk was great it couldn't be helped, we pro-
ceeded up to a house which was only a half mile off. 1 int|iiired of an old
laily wlio came to the door where the ferry boat was and how wc could
get across. She told us where the boat was and then 1 told her we were
escai)es and asked for something to cat; for we had been eating corn and
pumpkins out of a field all day, which made us feel rather sick. She was
dec|)ly affected and with haste entered the house and brought out some
good corn bread also flour cake and meat beside sweet potatoes. \\'ell, it
was a good meal to anyone an<l more particularly to us starved escapes.
The good old soul was so kind and sympathetic ; and her husband coming
up extended his han<l in a friendly way. Me was a very old man and
preacher, too old to be drafted or conscripted into the army. I think
he had no desire to go anyhow. We informed him who we were and that
we were aiming for Xewbern, North Carolina. He .says, "noys, I am sorrv

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 311

for you and hope you get there and if you get there tell them that Wni.
Hollingsworth is all right and I want you to write to me."

As we were about to start from him, what was our horror to see
three soldiers advancing and we were so close to them that it was useless
to run. I discovered one had a navy by his side. Looking toward the old
man he gave us the hint to make the best of it. I spoke to one remarking
about the weather, and one gave me the wink ; so, bidding good day. we
started off but oh ! we listened for the word "halt !" and the old summons
"surrender." We had gone but a short distance when we met with two more
soldiers who were uniformed. Merely nodding to them and passing on we
gained the river, and lucky for us the negro ferryman was there.

OVER CAPE FEAR RIVER.

The negro ferryman at first refused to take us over the Cape Fear river,
telling us it would be death to take us over, as he had his orders ; but we
coaxed him and told him big yarns about what the Yankees would do for
him ; also we gave him a ten cent silver piece we had found in the road ; and
we were soon across. We admonished him never to tell anyone he had taken
us over ; and we were much relieved when we struck for the woods. We
kept a good look out for we were not quite safe, having met so many
soldiers. We couldn't make out what it all meant. Perhaps they all thought
we were Johnies except the one who winked at i|s. No one could tell by
our uniform which side we were on. Maybe our /good old friend put them
off the track. /

After traveling eight miles all night in the brush, daylight came on and
found us in a sweet potato patch, and having plenty of corn we struck for
the brush again. And finding a good retreat we soon had a little fire started.
Roasting corn and potatoes was the order of the next few hours and soon
from the effects of our good meal we thought about sleep. So two would
sleep while one would stay awake. Xight coming on nothing happened to
mar our secluded retreat, and we started out again, traveled all night and
met with no opposition. Yet our course was difficult ; for we kept in the
woods and being weak had to halt and rest. At one time we fell asleep and
think we put in a good time without any guards out ; but we didn't aim to
do that way. W'hen morning came we proposed to travel all day, as we had
to cross a railroad soon. We thought we should come to it, and as we heard
the howl of blood hounds during the night it was policy to get out of tiiat
country as soon as we could. Coming up to the railroad at noon and waiting
for a favorable chance we were soon across and had another great relief
for our minds for we had been afraid of the patrols on the road.

A FRIENDLY REBEL.

We went two miles beyond the railroad and lay down till dark, wlien a
heavy rain came on ; and we all concluded to go to a hut or house and hunt

312 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

for something ; for by our constant exposure and hunger we were beginning
to fall away very fast. Remarking to one another that if we didn't soon
reach our lines we could not make it and must do our best, we went up to a
house which was a small neat one. On going in what was our surprise to
discover a rebel soldier but there was no use retreating. He appeared to be
sickly, so we made up our minds at a glance we could fix him if he under-
took to capture us. A woman coming in and also a boy we asked for some-
thing to eat. At first she hesitated and hoped we came with no intent to
burn them out or steal anything; for she had heard so much about escaped
prisoners that she couldn't help being frightened.

Being assured, however, of our good intents, she prepared us some sup-
per and then turning around we soon found out our rebel soldier was a con-
script and home on a sick furlough. He gave us a great deal of information,
saying if it was known that we were in that country and at his house he
would be hung. Soon supper was ready and as usual corn bread, the bread
being scarce but plenty of potatoes, also a glass of brandy, which did us
much good. As his house was on the road and he might be found out we
got ready to leave, though the old lady informed us we might stay longer and
rest some more, as it was raining so much. Before leaving we took a good
look at the map of North Carolina which was the first map of any kind we
had seen in any house and they gave us a box of matches and a newspaper,
the Raleigh Standard. The soldier sent his boy across a field with us and
put us on the direct road or route, the rain still falling in torrents.

OFF THK TR.\CK.

We had gone perhaps six miles wlien llie storm ceased and the sky
cleared up so that we could see by the stars that we had branched off on
a wrong road and were going in a south cast course. .As our strength was
giving out fast we couldn't afford to take tlie back track. But no help
for it, we struck across a field looking for the .North Star, and after going
a mile or so we struck on a road that was running northeast. We fol-
lowed this till morning when we halted.

We laid by that day until dark and going into a negro luit called for
something to eat. .'\s we told them we were Yankees we were soon fur-
nished with the usual corn bread, sweet potatoes and meat, also with a
few watermeions. The negroes posted us as to the route and advised
us also that there was a planter a mile from there who had a large pack
of hounds and followed the business of running down Yankee escapes
and runaway negroes. He liad cajiturcd some Yankees the night before
and wc would have to go through his plantation.

HI.Oor>ll(ll'NT).S VOLI.OWIN'G.

It was quite late when we started, perhaps midnight, so that all might
be in bed and onrv(Iv<< less liable to be seen flanking the plantation. We

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 313

discovered near morning that we were on the wrong road. So soon we
were going through woods and at last came on a road that was leading
northeast. We had gone but a short distance when our blood was chilled
by the howls of blood hounds on our track. The planter had found out
someway that we were in the neighborhood. I remarked to Jim and Byron
that we were gone up the stump this time ; but we tied on an antidote for
the dogs which the old colored friend had given us, onions and asafoetida.
Having done this we again struck out over brush and timber into the
swamps. We were aware that the dogs were gaining on us, and we couldn't
have gone over a half mile we stopped and laying hold of a sapling made
ready to climb. I says, "Jim I don't think I can ever get up this tree."
"You will when you see the dogs coming over across that field," he re-
marked. Just then they seemed bothered, and we again lit out for the
swamp ; for when the Yankee-hunters would come, they would get on to
tracks again. We concluded our good darkie.?' scheme was a good one
and saved us from capture.

FOLLOWING THE NORTH ST.\R.

Having gotten away from the dogs, we moved on till noon and then
lying down took our sleep by turns. Night coming, found us rested,
and we made another start for the "North Star" through the swamps and
woods. We found out we couldn't go very fast, as we could see that
our endurance was not so good as when we first lit out from the Johnnies.
Jim seemed to be going down in strength but his will power was the best
of any of us; also his instinct for going through the swamp was much
better than Paddock's or my own. I must acknowledge I was poor at
this ; though I aimed to make up in scouting around the houses for ra-
tions. W'e felt like giving up, only for Jim, who would remark we had
better perish in the swamp than go back to Andersonville or Florence or
be hung by the Rebs for having gotten away from them so many times.

Moving on, very early we came to a house in woods. I walked up care-
fully and all seemed so still that I looked into the window. The corpse of
a woman was in a coffin under the window and I got a glimpse of some
people in another room. I was not long in getting away from there and
informing my comrades of what I saw. We tlien struck out on a road
that seemed to be unfrequented; but we suddenly met two men in a buggy.
One of them appeared to be a soldier, and we thought a wounded one.
He eyed us and rather held up his horse for a talk, but just nodding to
him we passed along and when they got out of sight we made for the
swamp and censured ourselves very much for taking the road in daylight.
We rested awhile and put out again, but on no road that time.

ENCOUNTERING A SPIT-FIRE.

We moved on till late in the evening and came to Black river and
were bothered to know how to cross. Going up to a house we made in-

314 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

quiries of an old lady, and a young woman came out and informed us but
we knew well enough wrongfully ; and she gave us a piece of her mind
saying, "Oh! Yes, you are smart fellows but you can never get to Xew-
bern for all the cavalry in the country is after you." She wanted to know
how we had got over the various rivers, mentioning the names, and being
rather inquisitive as well as a rank rebel. There was one red apple on th^
tree by the door, and I asked her for it as nicely as I could. The old
lady said, "Yes take tlie apple," but the young one told me to let it alone
as they wanted it for tiieir own boys. So bidding them good day we got
out as fast as we could and not wiser for the parley.

IN .\ POT.\TO I'.XTtil.

When out of sight of the house we took another direction from the
one the young woman had told us to the bridge, and were lucky to find
our crossing i)lace. (ioing over by night we found a potato jiatch, and
we got what potatoes we could carry in a haversack that we made of a
towel we took off a line. We here again came near being cajitured ; for
as we got u|) a dog discovered us and kept up a racket and too we were
only a few rods from the house; but the man or soldier came out and
gave iiim a kick and made some remark about sleejiing. So after we
thought he was sound asleeji we lit out. I sup])ose the dog got another
kick when the man foiuid out some one had been in the "tater paten

C.\V.\LRV VERY NE.\R,

Coming to a lane and going on a short distance we came to a road
running north and one northeast. We were at a loss to know which one
to take. As a well was at the road side we took a good drink of water
and had just made up our mind to take one road, when I'addock whis-
pered, "Cavalry are coming," and sure enough there they came pell niell,
and no time to dash into the woods. We just lay down and the horses
threw sand on us. .As they dashed by we counted them as well as we
could, and I thought there were about sixteen of them. One said. "We
will take them in at .Mareton's Station." The fact that tluy were riding
so fast accounts for them not seeing us.

We felt much relieved and had no desire to find .Mareton's Station. So
taking the swamp route for some distance we remained till morning. But
we wished to leave that country as far and as quickly as ]iossible, so we were
soon moving out, but bail gone only a short distance when we discovered
horse tracks and saw cavalry away in the distance. We knew well enough
it was the young woman that had put them on our track.

TWO KINDLY WIDOWS.

At dark wc struck out again and as we came on the road we met an old
lady. We told her who we were and she told us to come to the house and

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 315

she would give us some food. She also gave us a great deal of informa-
tion about the country, telling us her husband and son-in-law were killed
three weeks before at Petersburg, \'a. "There," she says, "is my daughter,
whose husband and mine were taken away with handcuffs on." Both com-
menced crying and saying they did not blame the Yankees, but the rich
])lanters who were officers of the Confederacy." "Our men," they said,
"told them they did not want to fight against the old flag." We felt very
sad when they were telling us, and theirs, like others we had seen, was a sad
case. While talking a cavalry man had ridden up to the gate and was talk-
ing to the negroes. Tlie old lady walked out to the door and as there was no
closet to hide in and no way to get out without being seen we were ready
to go under the bed if he should come in. She was asked if she had seen
any Yankees that day, as it was known to be a fact that they were in the
neighborhood not far away, plundering, destroying property, and enticing
the negroes to run away. She told him she would send word if any should
be seen. He says, "Keep a good look out" and with a good day the cavalry
man dashed away down the road much to our relief.

FIFTV MILES FROM NEWBERN.

The woman who thus refreshed us and turnetl away the cavalrymen had
a very savage bloodhound that wanted to eat us up, and she got him into
a shed and tied him, and then fastened the door, so no one could get him
out ; for we were afraid he would take our track. We were about leaving
when we were informed that we were about fifty miles from Newbern,
Xorth Carolina, and at the headwaters of the Trent river. It was quite
dark and cloudy, and we had gone but a short distance ere we had to stop
till morning; for we were afraid of running into some cavalry.

The night was very cold and chilly and a heavy frost was falling; but
we were in rags, and Paddock was barefooted. I had a piece of a coat and
no shirt. Trotter had a piece of a shirt and no coat. So we were pretty
well frozen out as we had to keep rather quiet. When we could see in early
morn we struck out, but could hardly get a move on us for an hour or so.
We were on the north side of the Trent river, and Xewbern was on the
north side of the same river between it and the Xeuse river. The day be-
ing Sunday made it difficult to travel ; for many were walking about, and
we were in a thickly settled neighborhood. Also there seemed to be a
church somewhere, and cavalry were continually ])assing on the roads sing-
ing and shouting.

TOO clo.se to church.

We had made some ten miles when we came to a sudden halt, for in
our direct course lay the road running from Xewbern to Kingston ; and we
just had hid in a brush pile, not over thirty feet from the road when a squad
of cavalry went dashing by. We stayed all day and saw many vehicles and

316 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

people pass during that time. On close examination we discovered we were
close to a church, but we had to remain in hiding as the timber was open.
We could hear some portions of the sermon and there we were hungry and
frozen, as the day was very chilly. Also Paddock's feet were bleeding all
day, and we could hardly keep from going right up to the church and walk-
ing right in among them. Trotter was some sick that day and his knees and
mine were all bleeding, as we had taken turns in breaking the grass down
ahead when we were in the swamp. My health was some better than the
other boys, but my teeth and gums w-ere swelling loose and I could pull
them out with my fingers — take pieces of gums and pull out. We had
parched corn and the ashes from the corn ate my mouth very badly.

Night came at last ; we struck out and cautiously going up to the road, no
one was visible. We ran along and into the woods and had gone a mile
off the road into a swamp when we found ourselves unable to go any farther.
So we built a fire and roasted some corn and pumpkins which we had for-
tunately found in crossing a field. Remaining here till morning, as we had
a safe place we built a fire and lay by it all the night. But in the fall the
nights were very cool, and as we had no blankets nor half clothing, we
didn't slecj) nu)ch. We were pleased to see daylight again and were on the
move as soon as we could see.

PERSIMMONS AND POT.\TOES.

Coming to a potato patch and a large persimmon tree, we soon filled
our haversack and had just gotten out of sight when the old planter came
out of the house. We came near being discovered, for the patch and tree
were close to the house. .A mile or so on brought us to a melon patch, but
the melons were mostly half rijjc. Still, we filled up on them anyhow; and
dark still foimd us on the tramj). Finding out we were making slow prog-
ress, we reconnoitered a log hut and found it was occupied by negroes. As
soon as they learned we were Yankees they appeared very anxious to give
us something to eat. and from them we gained a vast store of information.
They told us where such and such a body of rebels was located, the loca-
tion of the swamps and streams, also where there was a pack of hounds —
for we dreaded the dogs more than the rebs, as w'e had no gim nor could
we ever get hold of any, as the negroes were not allowed to have them.
Our courage would at times give out and we must yet meet with disap-
pointments.

LOST IN .\ IIRIAK I'.XTCII.

We had gone but a short distance farther when we struck a briar thicket
in our route and plunged into it hoping it would be a small patch. We
found to our sorrow it was a large one, and we were so cut up and bleeding
after working through for an hour that we were compelled to give it up
and lie down. Thinking perhaps we should never get out, we started a fire

WKl.rll Si'lKxil,. AMKS

HKAL'DSIlKAl; S( ll()()|„ AMKS

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 317

and roasted our corn, and being safe from any visitors, wild or human, we
slept very well. As soon as morn came we concluded we must try and get
out. Soon the blood began to flow ; for the briars were from the ground
up to the top of the trees, which were low bushy ones. The briar vines we
had to break with our hands to get along, by this time our clothes were
nearly all torn off our bodies, and Paddock was without shoes. Sometimes
we could crawl under the briars and then our hands and face beginning to
swell, we thought we had got to our last camping ground, and no one would
ever find out about us. To think we had made such efforts for the past
weeks and then to perish in that briar field ! So, holding council, we con-
cluded to strike a south course, as we knew the wagon road couldn't be
very far south of us, and the way we were going might be miles of briars.
We had gone struggling for three or four hours, perhaps a mile, and came
to a slight opening where we rested till night. As we were done up and the
frost was falling very fast we made quite a fire although at great risk for
the road could not be a great ways off. Remaining all night but with noth-
ing to eat, morning came on and we were again on the move. Going half
a mile further we came to a wood. As we could hear the rattle of carts
we concluded to move southeast and the great trouble now was to keep a
good distance from the road.

THE REBEL PICKET LINE.

After getting out of the briars and into the open woods we had to be
careful to prevent discovery, as the road through the woods would take
some crooked turns and we were liable to run onto it. We wanted to keep
at a fair distance from the road, and we had a horror of the briar patches.
Well, we took a rest and being so near Xewbern, thought the danger was
nearly over. We were much cheered up and talked of the good times we
would have when we would reach our lines. An hour or so helped us so
that we again struck out ; but we had gone but a few steps when Trotter
motioned for us, and down we went. Sure enough, not fifty yards from
us were two cavalry men ; but they were looking the other way. So we
remained crouched down in the grass until the cavalry men went on, much
to our relief. Then we again struck out, observing great caution ; for the
signs indicated that there had been more than two rebels around.

Nothing more happened that day. however, and night found us very
weak and faint. We had not eaten anything since the night before, and
then it was only parched corn. So crawling up to a negro's cabin, they gave
us corn bread and sweet potatoes and informed us where the picket lines
were. The negroes told us that everyone knew about the three Yankees,
and his master was after them, and we must be more on our guard than
ever in going through the rebel picket line, which we much dreaded, as the
chances were very good to be picked up. As near as we could find out, we
were twenty-four miles from Xewbern, North Carolina. That night we

318 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

passed safely through the rebel lines. We could hear tlie ])ickets talk and
sing, and one time we came nearly on a vidette post.

ON THE NEUTR.M. GROUND.

Traveling on that day till late in the evening we met a boy with a cart
and inquired how far it was to the Yankee lines. He informed us we were
eleven miles from the Yankee and thirteen from the Rebel lines. He also
told us he was a Union boy and his father was dead. His mother was a
Union woman, and he hadn't seen any rebels or scouts for five or six days,
or any Yankees either. Sometimes the Yankees woukl be at their house
and sometimes the rebels. He told us he would bring us something to eat
or else his mother would. So we remained concealed in the woods a short
time, and the old lady came out and e.xtended to us the hand of friendship.
Then she passed to us a basket full of potatoes, bread, meat and vegetables.
Our hearts were full of thankfulness to the good old soul, and we made up
our minds there were lots of good peo])lc who loved tlie old tlag yet in the
south. .\!aiiv wen- the kind words she and her boy had for us. The good
father and husband had been taken to Salisbury, North Carolina, prison
and had died there because he would not fire on the old flag. The tears had
to come when the story was lold us. ( living us a blessing — for she was a
pious woman — and cautioning us how to ])roceed, she sent us on.

RECAPTURED BY SCOUTS.

We struck out frnni tlie Iioum.- and going but a short distance through
tlie woods we halted and concluded to take the road. Trotter's judgment
was to keep in the woods, but I rather insisted on the road. Paddock didn't
care much which way, it was so difficult to walk anyway and so near our
lines. .Ml I was afraid of was running on our pickets and getting shot by
our own men, so I thought if we took the road, by midnight we would be
in the Union lines. We talked about seeing the old flag again, our com-
rades and friends. We couldn't feel any happier to think our peojile would
look at us and what eating we would do, if we got the chance! Trotter
said he would fill up on hardtack and coflFee ; I'addock said his father kept
a meat market in Meriden, Connecticut. "Well," I says, "I'll go for the
hardtack and coffee," when up sprang three rebels with the command,
"halt !" and six revolvers were leveled at us.

"Hands up!" they said. We were completely ambushed. We couldn't
speak when \vc were admonished to be promjit in giving answers or we
would be shot. Such a feeling came over me to think that 1 was to blame
for this. Had I given in to Jim Trotter we might have passed the rebels
by. Now to be .so close to liberty and yet to be captured and to go back
to the pens and no exchange either. I didn't care much if they killed me
or not. I told them in a few words what I thought about them and thei'

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 319

confederacy, and 1 informetl them that there were lots of boys up north
yet to come. After some hot talk between us we informed the leader who
we were. "Oh, yes," he said, "you are those d — n runaways whom we
have been hunting the last six days ; but now we have you and no danger
of your getting away from us, but if you don't try to escape we will treat
you well while we have you, for tomorrow will tell the tale whether you
are spies or not."

By this time we had moved on some and there lay eight negroes all tied
together with bark and the fourth rebel guarding them. The negroes were
all lying on their backs, and just then the thought struck me if the negroes
were only loose we might some of us get away; but looking into eight re-
volvers, ourselves hardly able to stand on our feet, and the niggers all tied
up, I soon gave up that plan, and saw that I must think of some other way.

IN THE enemy's HANDS.

It seems that the scouts who captured us so near the Union lines had
been after us for a week and had given us up. Having been close to our
lines, they had on their return run onto the darkies who were running away
and had then caught us. The command being given "about face" we went
a mile and right past the good woman who so lately befriended us. We
gave no sign of recognition nor did she. Otherwise the scouts might come
back and burn her house. We had gone on a mile when we came to a
house and were ordered into a yard. We could see no chance for a dash
away. We had very good quarters and were told if we attempted to escape
we would all be shot down without any ceremony. We had placed before
us plenty of sweet potatoes and meat. I was set in the middle of the floor.
Trotter in one corner and Paddock in another and the eight negroes in an-
other corner and all tied up. The negroes were let loose one at a time
to eat a potato.

For ourselves, if we had not been prisoners, we might have thought our-
selves very lucky to have such warm quarters, for before us was a good fire
and the night was cold and a heavy frost was falling. We had no chance
for plotting an escape for we were strictly guarded ; the negroes were still
tied together and the guards kept us all apart and would not let us talk
any during the night to each other. My thoughts were to disarm them of
any suspicion of escape. The scouts were very conversable, asking many
questions, and by agreeing with them some in war matters, we made them
think we were some sick of it and never would soldier again. In the talk
we found out their names and all their exploits on our lines, taking in
picket posts, escapes and runaway negroes. One of them, the leader, whose
name was McConnell, knew quite a number of Company A Third Iowa.
He had lived in Dubuque, Iowa. We tried to sleep some during the night,
but were ever on the alert to escape before morning. My intention was if
one of the guard went to sleep to seize one of his revolvers ; but they were

320 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

too awake for any moveiiient of tliat kind. We dreaded the approach of
morning for we had been informed (hiring the night that we might have a
march of eighteen miles to Kingston. North Carolina, and perhaps be
chained or ironed down ; for that was the general doom of escapes, antl we
liad become very well known through the Carolinas. Morning dawned and
our captors were going to march us right off and eat breakfast at another
house; but concluded to remain till after breakfast, which was going to be
potatoes and meat for us. We were told we might go on the porch and take
a wash, which might be our last one till we were exchanged. I had just
washed, as also had Trotter and gone into the room, but Paddock was still
on the porch and washing.

THE-; RKSCUE.

At this moment the planter's boy ran up crying out, "The Yankees!
Yankees are coming!" O if we were only ten feet away from our captors
or out of sure range of their navies, w-e might yet be saved. Soon a re-
volver was thrust against my head — as also with the other boys — and we
were given to understand that the least attempt of escape would be instant
death. Our orders were to move out the back way. By this time our cav-
alry was slowly coming up, and just as we emerged from the back door
our men saw us. and supposing we were all rebels, gave us a volley. In
the excitement of the moment the attention of the scout being drawn from
us to the cavalry, who were fast approaching us. I took advantage of the
opportunity and dashed away. However, the scout fired the contents of
one revolver at nie; but in the excitement his shot failed of the mark; for
our cavalry were pouring the shot into us, too. My comrades were going
through the same experience, and the excitement was great ; for the family
were screaming and the house and outbuildings were being riddled with
lead from our cavalry men. who supposed they had run into a nest of
rebels. The rebels gained the wood or swamp and one who had me was
shot in the shoulder.

KRIKNDS H.\RD TO CONVINCE.

P.v iliis time our bluecoats got among us. and I was very happy that
the rebels had gone. I had made up my mind I would rather get shot there
than to go back; for I knew our men would know who we were if killed;
for I had some olil letters on my person. Our cavalry, which was the
Twelfth New ^'ork — or at least two comjianies of that regiment — .seemed
to be all (iermans. and 1 thought for a while they would shoot us anyhow;
for they had sworn vengeance on all rebels, and we resembled rebels very
much. Trotter's cap was a rebel luie that had been given him when cap-
lured in exchange for his black felt, and his coat was the old grey that the
negroes gave him. Paddock, too, had on an old gray jacket, and my coat
being dusted and soiled very much, and our hair being very lunt; an<l never
combed, we looked much like the rebels.

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 321

The cavalry abused us very much, so much that we told them what we
thought of them. Their talk was they were going to pay us back for the
suffering their boys had in Andersonville, and we could not make them
believe we had been there. The captain told us to "trot along;" and we had
gone two miles, when we came to a house, and the cavalry halted long
enough to confiscate four horses. The negroes were along; but they had
not the severe time we had. By the time we were mounted the colonel and
several officers came up and questioned us. He had more sense and was an
American, and says: "Boys, you are all right." He told his men we had
been abused by them and he extended his hand to all of us, remarking,
"Now keep along and you will not again be captured, and we will have
some better horses after awhile and saddles, too."

UNDER THE OLD FLAG.

Soon after the Colonel had really welcomed us under the old flag, the
boys came up with crackers and bacon ; and being Uncle Sam's rations, it
tasted like old times when we had been with our regiment. But we were
rather held in check for fear we would kill ourselves right there eating
under the stars and stripes, though it would have been a happy death, com-
pared with the place wdiere some of our poor chums had died. Proceeding
five miles and suddenly coming upon a rebel picket post our command cap-
tured their horses; and taking a rest, the boys made coffee and had us
wade in ; for they were much pleased to take good care of us after abusing
us so much when we were rescued by them. I drank two pint cupfuls
right down ; but Trotter and Paddock seemed to be more cautious, and just
as I was starting in on the third cupful Jim says, "Bob, you will kill your-
self." Just then the trees began flying around the cavalrymen, and com-
rades also were going with them, and I felt myself getting white and should
have fallen if I hadn't been quickly caught; but they threw canteens full of
water in my face and I managed to keep my feet. But we all concluded the
coffee had been too much for me, and I was feeling bad for several days
after.

After mounting us with our prisoners captured on picket post, the
Colonel told us to keep our eyes on the rebels for it was our time now.
We chatted with the prisoners as we were riding along, and they were much
pleased with the capture. Their case was different from ours; for with
them capture brought a prospect of living, but with us a prospect of starva-
tion. The command made no more captures that day ; but it was expected
a wagon train would be passing by a certain road that afterncKin, and it
was the intention of the cavalry to capture it, the infantry cooperating from
above Newbern. However, the enemy is supposed to have got posted and
saved their train. So night found us dashing for camp and to us infantry
who were half dead and emaciated and not used to a horse, it was pretty
tough on us ; but the thoughts of getting to Newbern, a place we had cen-

322 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

tered all our liopes on for the past month or so, kept us from falling off
and the toys rather kept a watch for us. Midnigiit found us at the camp
of the cavalry (the Twelfth New York) and when camp was announced
there were three Union soldier pri-oner hoys along.

IN Tllli LNIO.N C.\.M1'.

The whole camp was up and we had to be picked off our horses and
helped into a tent, where wc lay down as miserable as we felt ; for we were
so completely done up with the ride that when we saw the Union flag we
could not keep the tears back. .A good soldier supper was gotten ready for
us, and a ration apiece of whiskey given. The troops there received two
rations per day by order, for the yellow fever was raging in the city, and
the camp of the soldiers was away out on the flank of the city. There were
no soldiers in Newbern where people were reported two hundred dying
every day. Next day we reported to provost marshal at Xewbern. who
seemed to take kindly to our case. He said that only twelve escapes had
reached the Union lines during the past month, we thus making fifteen.

Rut we were now given a good dressing down, plenty of soap and clean
w^ater, good soldier rations and new clothes ; and among friends we came
to feel jiretty good anyhow, even though we could hardly walk. Our quar-
ters was in the basement and the marshal's office upstairs. We ke|)t indoors
pretty well, for tiie ])lace was under cpiarantinc and the negroes were kept
drunk so they could bury the dead. It seemed to be the idea that they were
safe if drunk as they piled the dead on carts. The most of the place was
depopulated, there being nothing left but dead and drunken negroes. There
were no soldiers in the place, but only jirovost marshal and ourselves. Not
even was there sliipping, for it was away out on the water some miles. At
last we i)ersuaded the jjrovost to signal the tug to come after us; and in a
few hours we parted from a first rate fellow wearing the blue.

KOANOKK IS1..\.\D.

Landing at Roanoke Island, we fmuid --(imc of the I-'ifteenth t'onnecti-
cut, who were first rate boys, and they stuflfed and petted us very much.
They had surrendered at Plymouth, North Carolina, when the rebel ram
Albemarle came upon them and the land force in the rear; but they were
paroled in time. We started frnm Roanoke Island on a canal boat, which
was loafled with rations, the hatches fastened down and a tug away ahead
])ulling us. By some mistake we were given no rations, and as we were
day and night on the boat, we could not stand that. There were quite a
niniil)cr of soldiers besides us alx>ar(l going to Norfolk, \'a. ; so we pried
the hatches u]) and filled up with rati(>ns, anrl put the hatches back. Just

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 323

then we passed the rebel ram Albemarle. She was anchored out on Pam-
lico sound and the railroad iron plating had been taken off.

PARTING WITH TROTTER .\XD PADDOCK.

Getting oft' at Norfolk, \'a., we began to look at soldiers again, and
forts, ships, and great guns mounted. But Jim Trotter took very sick and
we eased him over on the sidewalk. He didn't know us, and we thought
perhaps he was taking the yellow fever. I hastened to find some surgeon
and found old General Wood, who informed me where the provost marshal
was. He had Jim sent over to Portsmouth navy hospital, and I never saw
him till the next April 25 at Raleigh, North Carolina. Paddock found a
colonel who knew him, and so we separated, too. I have never met him
since, but he was living a few years ago at Loon Lake, Jackson county,
JMinnesota.

So after I was by myself I felt pretty lonely, for every one was a
stranger. I was sent to Baltimore, Maryland, and stayed at the hospital
in Fort Federal Hill. I voted for Lincoln there and remained six weeks.

ANOTHER CLOSE CALL.

At the time of leaving I weighed 108 pounds. Receiving transportation
for Columbus, Ohio, I laid out in camp there a few days and then went on
to Chattanooga, Tennessee, put up on the way at the Zollicoft'er House at
Nashville, and left there for Chattanooga. As we were going out I could
see the hustle of a big fight ; as the refugees were flying for the city, cav-
alry and infantry were moving around and dust could be seen in all direc-
tions away off. There were several very long trains all together, two en-
gines on each, but no soldiers, and as they pulled heavy I knew they were
loaded. I got down in the car I was on ; the door was easily put aside, and
the car was loaded with coffee. Just as we came to Murphreesboro the
advance of Hood's cavalry let full drive into the last cars. Our train was
the last one and we were just in time to save ourselves. That was the last
train that passed over till Hood was busted up.

COXCLCSIOXS.

On reaching Ciiattanooga I found a few of the Third Iowa boys and
was put on quarter rations, looking for a tight any time ; but as soon as
the road opened. General Thomas sent me a furlough on my own time with
no date to it and in a short time I was among relatives in "God's country"
(Iowa). After my visit I wanted to see the boys, and went right back to
Newbern, North Carolina. I met them at Raleigh, though a good many old
faces I failed to see. This is to my good old comrade, James H. Trotter,
Company "C," Third Iowa Infantry.

R. J. Camphell.

Hollenburg, Washington county, Kansas, late Company "E," Third
Iowa Infantry.

CHAPTER XXX.
THE DECADE AFTER THE WAR.

Tlie ten years following the close of the Civil war and the return of
the soldiers from the tield was a period of rapid development in Iowa, and
in this development Story County had its full share. Not only did the
county gain materially in population with the resulting conversion of prai-
rie lands into farms, but the towns grew also and the conditions and in-
stitutions that were to characterize the county permanently became estab-
lished. It was during this time that the Iowa .Vgriculural College was
evolved from a hopeful prospect into an educational fact. .Also during this
time the lovva and Minnesota narrow gauge railroad, after many tribula-
tions concerning its location, was finally built from Des Moines to .Ames,
thus connecting the county by rail with the state capital, and largely dis-
posing of the previously ever important question of the Skunk river cross-
ing. The actual opening of the college near .Ames and the ass^ired and
linal construction of the north and south railroad to that jraint had
the very natural effect of adding very materially to the importance of that
village and still more of raising the hopes of its citizens as to the future
of their community. Consequent upon these hopes there developed a court-
house fight, which fight never actually reached the stage of a dctinite claim
made by Ames for a transfer of the county .seat to that village, but it did
take the form of a very definite local opposition in .Ames to the construc-
tion of a new court house in Nevada.

The need of a new court house for the general purposes of the county
was fairly evident; for the original court house had been burned and the
building which had been hastily erected in its place was fairly to be regarded
as of a temporary nature. So Nevada asked the county to build a new
court house which should comport better with the growing jirospects of
the county, and with Nevada's legitimate aspirations to be the hub of so
fine a county. In the issue thus outlined .Ames naturally had the coopera-
tion of those individuals all over the county who l(x>kcd with disfavor uix>n
any [)roposal to increase taxes for public im|)rovcments. So in the line-up
the county very closely divided. Tlie court house question was submitted
to the people twice. The first submission was in 1868. when it was pro-
posed to issue bonds in the sum of $30,000 for a new court house. This

324

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY . 325

proposal was defeated by a majority of sixty votes. The matter rested
for a time but in 1874 there was another submission, this time of the prop-
osition to issue bonds in the sum of $40,000 for a new court house. It
will be observed that in the intervening years the prevailing notion of the
amount of money necessary for a suitable court house had grown. But
in the meantime it is very likely that the taxable value of the county had
so increased as to make the larger but later proposition the one more easily
to be borne. At any rate the tide turned, and the proposition for a new
court house was this time carried by a majority of sixty votes. Ames was
not satisfied with the result but contested the election, and Nevada retali-
ated by securing the indictment of college students who had voted on the
Ames side of the question. For a time the controversy promised to become
very bitter, but cooler counsels prevailed and ultimately the matter was
compromised on the basis of Ames withdrawing its contest and of Nevada
paying the costs so far incurred in the contest proceedings and quashing the
indictment against the Ames students. It was a good settlement of what
might have been a very serious quarrel. From this time forward the two
towns were able to get along with more or less of rivalry, but with a mu-
tual recognition that Ames had the college and Nevada the county seat.

Another quarrel of the same period, however, was not so fortunately
adjusted. This quarrel was the one in Nevada which has already been
referred to in the first chapters of this work, and which arose over the
question whether the main part of the town should be on the north side
or the south side of the before mentioned "Slough." This contest was won
commercially by the north-siders, and upon the whole the north-siders also,
had rather the better of the political fight. But in order to win the political
fight they had to bolt the ticket regularly nominated in the republican county
convention of 1867. This matter will be taken up more at length under
the general subject of politics, but it may be here set down as one which
the county seat and county did not get over in a very long time. As to
the location, however, of the business part of town, that was a question
which it was well to have settled in any way : and when it had once been
settled the people thereafter moving into town were able to accept the sit-
uation as they found it. The dispute as to the "Slough" was one issue
which they did not have to help determine, and thus the controversy over
the "Slough" was in time permitted to die out as the actual participants
therein become willing to drop it or moved away.

On this subject of moving there was also an intere.sting time in Nevada
over the moving of the North Western depot. In a previous chapter it has
been explained that in the first place the Cedar Rapids and Missouri River
Railroad Company, having been organized at Cedar Rapids by the people
of the counties along the forty-second parallel, had as a matter of course
been accorded by the legislature the benefits of the land grant which had
been voted by congress in aid of the construction of a railroad on or near
this parallel. In the second place, the railroad had made the demand

326 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

•successfully upon Nevada for the swamp lands of the county in con-
sideration of the railroad not passing Nevada by but locating its depot
within one thousand yards of the court house. And in the third place
the railroad had made a further demand for a cash subscription as a sort
of supplement to the vote of the swamp lands, which demand had been
complied witli so far as making the subscription was concerned, but had
been evaded with respect to the payment of the sums subscribed. So the
depot had been located between the main track and the side track on the
east side of wiiat is now I'iiu- street, and in a neighborhood where the
land speculators who followed the railroad had laid out some small lots
and had lio|)ed to establish a third business centre more important than
the one on the south side of the Slough or the north side of the Slough.
During tiie year when Nevada was the terminal of the railroad and the
outfitting point for emigrant trains, this locality was, in fact, the head-
quarters for outfitting the emigrants and it continued to have the station
of the Western Stage Company so long as that company had occasion to
run its stages between .Nevada and Des Moines. P.ut the locality never be-
came established as a permanent business centre and in time the trouble of
going to the depot at the ])lacc indicated iK-came a subject for increasing
complaint. It was not, however, until after the period under consideration
in this chai)ter that the annoyance thus provoked was I'mall) disposed
of by the conclusion of an agreement between the town and tiie railroad
for the removal of the deix)t two blocks and a half westward and near
to what had become the main business street of the town.

During this decade Nevada and .\mes were both incorporated as
municipalities, and also independent school districts were organized with
each of the towns as a centre. Other towns of the county also were formed
or gained in local or general importance. The building of the narrow
gauge — as it was commonly known — was foUowetl by the appearance
of the town Sheldahl in the county corner with additions in both Polk
county and Hoone county, and also by the establishment of a station at
Kelley on the township line six miles northward. The ])eculiar situation
as to Sheldahl and the growing consequence of the village as the center
of a Norwegian settlement that lay chietly in Story county but extended
into both Polk and Boone counties led later on to a serious effort to change
county lines and to include Story county those portions of the village
which lay in the other counties. In accordance with a law ])assed for the
especial benefit of the people of Sheldahl, the question was submitted to
the voters of all three counties to consolidate the village as aforesaid. Story
County, which was to get the benefit of the consolidation, voted unani-
mously for the change, but the peojile of the other two comities, which were
to lose territory, did not see the matter that way and they voted down the
proposition. Some years later, after the Milwaukee railroad had come
through the county, passing about a mile and a half north of Sheldahl, the
matter was settled by the Story county portion of the village abandon-

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 327

ing their location and moving their portion of the town, business buildings
and residences, to the new town of Slater. But this is another story.

Other towns which had owed their existence to the coming of the
railroads were Colo and Ontario, Colo had an immediate importance as a
depot of railroad supplies for a time, and its establishment had had the
effect of destroying utterly the near-by village of New Albany which
never had been a considerable burg but which nevertheless had been
known upon the map. Ontario was immediately adjacent to New Philadel-
phia, which village it geographically superseded. But Ontario never was
able to succeed to the measure of general interest and importance which
Xew Philadelphia had enjoyed. New Philadelphia in its palmy days be-
fore the railroads had been the one community center in the region about
Squaw Fork, and comprising the greater part of the county west of Skunk
river. Bloomington, just east of the river, had been its nearest rival and
its general consequence had been variously recognized witli public meetings,
political debates, and Fourth of July celebrations. Ontario had obvious ad-
vantages of transportation over New Philadelphia, but at the same time
that Ontario was located, Ames also was founded. By common consent the
business and political interest which had centered in and about New Phila-
delphia was later directed to Ames.

In the south part of the county Iowa Center prospered notably. The
firm of "Baldwin & Maxwell" built up there much the largest business
that there has ever been in the coimty depending wholly upon the farmers
for trade. There were not so many farmers in the county then as there
are now, and such farmers as there were were not so well-to-do as is the
average occupant now of his own farm ; but the time was before the day
of the catalog mail-order houses and what trade there was in the country,
Baldwin & :Maxwell very largely commanded. The firm had its head-
quarters and main business at Iowa Center with important branches at
Cambridge, Clyde — a little over the line from Collins township into Jas-
per county — and Colo, the latter place being the one for railroad ship-
ments. With such business interests at Iowa Center, and with no railroad
south of about the middle of the county, excepting the narrow gauge in the
extreme southwest, Iowa Center ranked distinctly next to Nevada and y\mes
among the towns of the county. Its only rival south of the principal towns,
was Cambridge, which had rather lost in importance with the building of the
narrow gauge and the transfer of traffic away from the Skunk river crossing
at that place.

In this time there were but two recognized towns in the north half of
the county, these being Storj' City and Roland. These were both "Inland"
towns ; for the Iowa and Minnesota narrow gauge was not extended north
from Ames until late in the '70s and the Story City branch of the Iowa Cen-
tral was not yet so much as projected. Story City had displaced the original
town of Fairview and was probably the larger of the two northern towns,
but Roland was in a township which upon the whole was better developed and

328 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

undoubtedly was more of a unit, and with these advantages Roland was
fairly holding its own in a rivalry that has not yet ceased to be more or less
observable. Jn the northeast four townships of the county there was nothing
that so much as called itself a town or village, and the nearest approach to
anything of the sort was the rural settlement and strictly country postoffice
at Johnson's Grove, wliere the ni.iil was delivered once or twice a week by a
carrier who travelled between Nevada and Eldora, sto])|)ing at Johnson's
Grove and at Illinois (jrove and at Xew Providence. In the extreme north-
east corner of the county there was developing something of a settlement,
but its postoffice and community center was at Illinois Grove over the line
in .Marshall county. I'or the most part the northeast quarter of the county
was open prairie, a tine place for herding cattle in summer but offering
nothing in the way of towns.

Of the earlier villages of the count)- which jiad been started at one time
or another but which had failed to make good Defiance in the extreme south-
east corner of the county had been lost sight of and .Sheffield in the south-
west corner of Howard township had given place to Roland; I'coria on the
county line between Story and I'olk counties southeast of Iowa Center was
still known to the maj) and the ])ost office department and continued so to
be known until the coming of the .Milwaukee railroad ; but it had not par-
ticularly developed. Bloomington in the bend of Skunk river north of Ames,
had in the pioneer days been the location of a postoffice known as Camden
and had been the location of the first district court, which indicted Barna-
bas Lowell for the murder of liis wife. But such aspirations as it may have
had to become the metropolis of the Skunk river region had been blasted
when the railroad passed to the south and made the station at .Ames.
Bloomington retained its name and its character as a neighborhood and it
in fact retains them both to this day; but as the affairs of towns arc un<ler-
stood it was not a rival of Roland nor of Story City nor of Ames.

Tlir. .STAN'I.ICV TRIAL.

Probably no single event in the county during this period was of more
general or continuing interest than was the trial of George Stanley for the
murder of William Patterson. N'ot that a murder trial is sometliing that
moulds institutions, nr influences greatly the subsequent course of events;
but there are murder trials in which the people generally become interested
and maintain their interest, and this trial was one of that sort. The matter
became of such state wide interest that it was made the text of a successful
campaign for the abolition of capital punishment, and it was such abolition
that eventually saved Stanley from the gallows, that was at one time in the
course of construction for his use. .After thus having his sentence in effect
commuted by the general assembly and Inking in consequence .sent to the peni-
tentiary at Ft. Madison for a life term, .Stanley became a quite persistent
applicant for j)ardon, his case coming ui> quite regularly before successive

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 329

general assemblies, but not receiving any favorable consideration for many
years. On the occasion of the local publication of notice of one of these
applications, Mr. J. A. Fitchpatrick, who had been clerk of the court at the
time of Stanley's trial, and who was one of the men most familiar with the
matter, furnished the following concise statement of the case, which state-
ment is here reproduced as the best to be offered. Mr. Fitchpatrick said:

"At the September term 1870 of the Story county district court, George
Stanley was indicted for the murder of William Patterson. The murder was
committed on the 15th day of June 1870 on the railroad track just as it
enters the cut on the west side of Skunk river, about 80 rods east of the
depot in Ames. At the time Patterson was section foreman of the section
running east of Ames. The two or three years previous he had been foreman
at Ogden, and Stanley had been in his employ for a time while there. Stan-
ley was a rough brutal looking fellow, but notwithstanding this fact an undue
intimacy sprang up between him and Patterson's wife, wliich led to his dis-
charge from the gang of workmen. Stanley after his discharge attacked Pat-
terson with a club, striking him over the head several times and in the fracas
Patterson managed to stab Stanley with a knife several times, inflicting se-
rious wounds, laying him up for several weeks. While he was confined with
his wounds several of the good people of Ogden tried to prevail upon him
to file information against Patterson, but he declined to do so, saying that
he was the aggressor and Patterson was not to blame, but he declared that
if he recovered and should meet Patterson he would kill him. Patterson was
finally indicted and tried at Boone in April 1870 and acquitted, Stanley ap-
pearing as the principal witness against him. After this trial Stanley declared
himself to be a 'bull-dog,' and when once he undertook to down a man he
would never let up and said T will kill Patterson yet.'

"Stanley was first identified as seen in Ames on June 13th. At that time
just opposite the scene of the murder, and about thirty feet north of the
track, a deep gully had been washed out, leaving a high embankment of dirt
between it and the track. On this day he was seen by Mrs. Nellie E. Gregory
going into that gully about 5 o'clock in the evening. Gregorys at the time
lived just south of the track. She saw him again the ne.xt day raising up
out of the gully just after Patterson and his men Iiad passed on their way to
work, viewing them closely, but acting as if he did not want to be seen.

"On the evening of June 15th, Patterson left his work in the cut east of
the river about 5 o'clock, telling the men he was going to town and gave them
instructions ito fini.sh the jobs they were at and then come in. The men started
in near six o'clock and upon reaching the spot opposite the gully they found
Patterson's dead body lying across the track with two bullet wounds in his
head — one entering the eye and coming out the opposite ear and the other
full in the top of the head going downward. An old rusty revolver with one
empty cartridge shell, tiie chamber also rusty and showing no signs of recent
firing was found near him and also a bo.x of cartridges. Patterson was never
known to carry a revolver.

330 HISTORY OF STUKV COUNTY

"Mrs Eleanor Bradley, still residing in Ames, heard a shot and saw a man
running but thought nothing strange of it at the time. The same evening
Stanley called at the house of A. Dayton in the west part of Nevada asking
for a drink of water and a])pcaring very warm and excited. The next day he
was seen at Liscomb, Marshall county, and asked for and secured a ride to
Eldora. W. H. Carnick, mail agent on the train, noticed him and told
him he answered the description of the man Stanley, who had murdered Pat-
terson at Ames. He said he hatl never been at Ames and did not know Pat-
terson. The day following he was arrested near Eldora and at the next
session of the grand jury was indicted. He was tried at the April term .\. D.

1 87 1 of the Story County district court. Messrs. Boardman and Brown of
.Marshalltown and Dan McCarthy of Ames appeared as his attorneys; he
was ably defended: the jury after a short deliberation returned a verdict of
guilty of murder in the first degree and he was sentenced to be hangeil.

"The case was appealed to the Supreme court on technical grounds, Hon.
G. W. Ball of Iowa City appearing for him on appeal, and February 24th

1872 the court affirmed the judgment of the lower court {^3 Iowa page 526.)
The court says: 'Weighing the evidence before us most cautiously, and con-
sidering it all with great care, we are thoroughly satisfied that the jury were
authorized thereon, without a reasonable doubt to convict the prisoner. The
grave duty is imposed upon us which we discharge with a due sense of our
responsibility to God and the state, to pronounce the decision of this court
confirming the judgment of the court below, condemning the prisoner to
suffer the extreme penalty prescribed by the law for the heinous crime of
wiiicli he stands convicted.' The opinion was written by the late Chief Jus-
tice Beck and the case was well considered.

"The time for the execution was tixed for early in April, 1872. The tim-
bers were on the ground :ind wnrknun had been engaged to erect the scaf-
fold. In tiic meantime the legislature had passed the law abolishing capital
punishment and only the day jirevious to that fixed for carrying out the
.sentence of the court, C.overncir Carpenter sent a special messenger with a
commutation of sentence to tiiat of inii)risonment for life.

"The foregoing are the cold facts gleaned from the record in the case.
Tli.il the murder was most foully committed after lying in wait for at least
three davs for that i)ur])osc, no one who heard the trial doubted at the time
and there has been no occasion for change oi views since.

"While under sentence Stanley was a docile and well behaved j)risoncr
in every way. He settled down meekly to submit to his iiuni-hmcnt wliatever
it might be. Upon one occasion the other prisoners confined with him broke
jail and escaped. Stanley could have gone but refused to go saying that it
was 'too cold to venture out." Nothing is known here of his antecedents.
Whether or not he had any relatives living diil not develop ujion the trial."

Mr. Fitchpatrick did not at this time lake the position that Stanley
.'hould not under any circmnstances or at any time receive a |)ardon, and in
fact a few years later, having in the meantime been elected to the state

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 331

senate, he gave the consent that was essential to Stanley's pardon. This was
in 1902 when Stanley had been in prison for thirty years. Stanley had be-
come the prisoner of much the longest service in the penitentiary and
though still in his '50s as to age, he was broken down by his prison life. The
relatives who were not known of at the time of his trial or for many years
afterwards had made their appearance, and when Stanley was finally re-
leased in the year stated they met him at the prison and took him back to
his native state of Maine, whence there has been of him no further report.

THE KIRKMAN MURbER.

One other murder belongs to this period, that of Geo M. Kirkman in the
early summer of 1875. Mr. Kirkman had been one of the very earliest set-
tlers of the county, having located on its extreme southern border, a little
east of the creek, in 1851. He appears to have come to the county with
more means than was the case with very many of the pioneers, and he took
up a good fann, improved and enlarged it and was counted one of the dis-
tinctly successful men of his neighborhood. He was a man of positive
character and had both friends and enemies. To a certain extent this condi-
dition obtained at home and there had been family quarrels that were more
or less known to the neighborhood. Whether these quarrels had anything to
do with his murder, is a question that never was tried out in court and con-
cerning which the people of the neighborhood have always been very chary
about expressing opinions. The fact is that some time after there had been an
apparent reconciliation of the family disagreements, Mr. Kirkman was one
night dragged from his bed by some men who entered the house and was
lianged to a small tree in his orchard near by. The matter was made the
the subject of earnest investigation by a coroner's jury consisting of E. \V.
Lockwood, Wm. Lockbridge and W. K. Wood ; but the jury was not able to
fasten the crime upon parties suspected or on anyone else either within or out-
side of the family. Two or three of the sons-in-law and one or two other
parties were arrested but no indictments were returned against them and
they were soon released. Whoever were concerned were able to keep their
own counsel and if they are still living are to be credited with having done
so for more than 35 years. The Kirkman mystery has never been unravelled
and is not likely now to be.

CHAPTKR XXXI.
GENERAL CONDITIONS FOLLOWING THE WAR.

In the decade following the war as before suggested, there was in this
part of the country a very rapid development, and this development was the
.«ubject not merely of local enthusiasm but also of extended outside com-
ment. Of the outside commentators none was better qualified to observe dis-
criminatingly and to write instructively, than was Benj. F. Taylor of Chicago.
In the I-^all of 1 866 he made a journey of observation through this section
and liis comments were published first in the Chicago Journal and soon
alter were locally reprinted under the title of "Lake .Michigan to the
Missouri."

Mr. Taylor was one of the most gifted writers and speakers that ever
graced the American press and ijlattorm. lie was long connected with the
Chicago Journal, which was then the leading Republican paper of the North-
west ; he was actively engaged at times in lecturing, and a lecture which he
gave in the regular course in Nevada in the winter of 1884 or 1885
is one of the best remembered of all the lectures that have ever been given
here. He was also a poet, and one or two of his jioems are among the pro-
ductions that rank as the rarest in .Xmerican literature. What such a man
could see when he started out to cross Illinois and lnwa by the yet inconi-
])lete line of tlie Northwestern was therefore wiiat could be seen by one of the
best trained and worthiest observers of that time. It is in fact delinite rec-
ord from wliich to measure the gencr;d dexelopnient uf tlie country along
the route as achieved up to that time. Mr. T.iylor >aid :

WHAT iii:nj. k. T.wr.oR s.wv.

Iowa, Se]3tember. 1886. — A broad date; but you cannot better it; for
taking its story and its promise, a man ought to be proud to live anywhere
in Iowa. .\ little while ago — hardly longer tlian an aloe i< getting ready
to blossom — there was a splendid wilderness of more than tifty thousand
square miles lying between tlie two great rivers of the continent. It had
magnificent woods that stood up grandly before the Lord; it had glorious
rivers that flowed on idly to the sea: it had prairies that unduhited away,
dotted with great island groves and spangled with jessamines, roses and vio-
lets; it had valleys fair a-; the valley of Sharon. It was a part of Louisi-

332

STKKKT SCKNK I X col.d

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 333

ana, within the domains of Xew France and was laid down very dimly upon
the map. It was not a state; it was not a territory, but just a part of God's
uninhabited globe waiting for the coming men. Ninety years ago there was
not a white man in all its empire; in 1541 De Soto discovered it; in 1573 a
man who could not speak the English tongue paddled along a river now
called Des Moines — I crossed it an hour ago — and saw footsteps in the
sand upon the shore and a slender trail drawn across the wilderness
as if to score it out from the open book of civilization. He followed it
and found a red man's dwelling. And so this empire was rediscovered.
That man was Marquette.

About the last year of the seventeenth century Hennepin discovered it
again ; and so it was born a third time upon human vision, and has never
gone out of sight. Seventy-eight years ago the most gracious Castilian
granted to Julien Dubuque the "mines of Spain," and strangely enough,
they lay in the wilderness clasped by the two great rivers, and a few
pioneers burrowed like gophers in the mines of Spain. And they handed
this domain about the mighty sisterhood, much as an admirable infant
of our household. Louisiana passed it to Michigan Territory, and she
took care of it three years. She reared it into two counties, each with
one township in it. That was thirty-two years ago. It was too poor
to be named, and Wisconsin took the motherless child and gave it a
few laws of her own to use for lack of better. It was the Black Hawk
purchase. In 1883 it was born a territory and twenty-eight years
ago last Fourth of July it was formally christened Iowa — Iowa the
Drowsy, some say, but not so. A band of Indians seeking that home
beheld it and loved it and cried out "Iowa, Iowa, this is the place." And
what a splendid vision ! All the planet between the Mississippi and the
]\Ussouri north to the British possessions — 195,000 square miles — and
there it was fresh from the moccasined foot of the Sacs and Fo.xes. At
length about the last days of December, 1846, an audible knock from
hereaway was heard at the Federal door. Iowa stood upon the threshold,
was admitted and became a sovereign state.

I took up a gazette the other day — true a few summers ago as the books
of Moses — to find whither I was going ; and I read in types very small and
very contemptuous: "Iowa — bounded on the north by the British territory
of the Hudson Bay Company. The Indian title is not e.xtinguished."

I learned too that Iowa had eighteen counties ; that 355 souls were en-
gaged in commerce throughout this empire; that 154,000 bushels of wheat
had been growing at one time within its borders ; and twenty thousand cows
came home to the milking; I looked for Clinton county and found it, but
no accidental dot upon the map betrayed the c.<istence of one of the towns
and cities now strung like jewels along the Iowa division of the Chicago &
Northwestern railroad and flung like a necklace across the state.

I am crossing this empire today ; have looked upon a few faces of its
775,000, souls ; upon its growing corn ; have seen its pastures flecked with

334 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTS"

a million and a lialf of sheei). ' number its two and a half millions of swine
and its million cattle, whose delegations have gone squeaking and lowing
across the continent from the Atlantic seaboard at the rate of twentv mile-:
an hour. I think of its two hundred thousand acres of meadow rippling
in the sun its five millions of broad acres under the plow ; its twelve and a
half million bushels of wheat; its fifty million bushels of corn; its heacN of
three hundred and ten thousand cows coming home to the milking; its
daughters who made last year almost fifteen million pounds of butter —
enough to lubricate the axles of time — and a million pounds of cheese. I
count its seven humlred and fifty churches, its forty colleges, crowning its
heights like fair young queens upon their thrones, its seven thousand schools
and their three hundred and twenty-five thousand young candidates for the
kingdom of heaven. I treasure its hundred and twenty thousand homes, and
J glory in this wilderness of Louisiana, this Black Hawk purchase, this
sovereign state, white and a-flutter like a snowy day with a newspaper cir-
culation of ten millions of copies. .\nd so Iowa keeps magnificent step to
the march of empire; and so I began with, "a man ought to be i^roud to live
anywhere in Iowa."

I'ut she has done more and more grandly ; for she has changed that step
and there in the forefront has kept time to the music of the Union. Out of
the breathless wilderness of ninety \ears ago eighty-four thousand and
seventeen — I linger lovingly on the number — Hoys in Blue have swelled the
Federal legions. There has been precisely time enough since 1840 to grow
one man to prime, and in that year of grace there were not so manv liunian
beings in all the state by more than forty thousand. She had forty-tliree
thousand men, women and children, all told, in 1840. and seventy-one sol-
diers in the army. Four batteries have spoken for her ; eleven regiments
of cavalry have heard the bugles and thundered to the charge; fifty regiments
of infantry have closed up the solid front and tifteen thousand fallen. .\nd
what heroes they were, and how splendid the record they have made for
Iowa, liberty and (iod! How rich the meaning they have lent the legend
of their coat of arms: "Our liberties we prize — our rights we will main-
tain." The grand staple of Inwa nc\er took root in her soil — .Men. 1 can-
not forget that when the call was made in December 1864 for two hundred
thousand men, there were twelve thousand and eighty men to sjiare over all
calls, that no such thing as a conscript ever hailed from biw.i. that it raised
a s|)lendi(l harvest of soldiers, and they were all vohmteers. Of a truth,
those "mines of Spain" they told of are emblematic of the state: thev have
lead enough in their mines to persuade creation to be loyal — they have the
lca<l and they almost take the lead.

Hut all these things have gone into history. They could never be evolved
in a trip to Nebraska, They do not belong in a wayside letter at all. .\nd yet.
sitting Iierc on the bank of the Missouri, and thinking over the way I have
come — across the Vox and Rock rivers; across the Mississippi; across the
Cedar; the Iowa, the Des Moines; across two states — thinking of the two

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 335

days 1 rattled on by rail — Chicago and Northwestern all the time — , of
being dropped helplessly at the present terminus of the road, two hundred
and fifty-nine miles west of the Mississippi and three hundred and ninety-
seven from Chicago, to find my way as best I could one hundred and twenty
more to the Missouri ; of the splendid wilderness you traversed, the un-
fenced, unplowed, unparalleled world whose disc you move over — all day
today and not a house — all day tomorrow and the next and not an engine in
hearing to whistle civilization up. Thinking over all this you will almost
wonder, as I did, how all that glorious thunder of battle could have broken
out of the clear sky of Iowa, whence came all the wealth of flock, herd, har-
vest and host that gives the state a place among the powers of the Northwest ;
putting this and that together it had all the charm of a young miracle. The
bottle with the giant in it was nothing to his wilderness with a world in it.

STORY COUNTY AS IT WAS.

About the same time or a little earlier a book was published by a Ceneral
Wilson, entitled "A Description of Iowa and its Resources." The work
notes the location of the county and its possession of the State Agricultural
College and Farm and advises the world concerning the general advantages
of the county as follows:

"The county is watered by the Skunk river, a fine branch nearly divid-
ing the county, and the west branch of the same and Indian creek, with their
various tributaries. Timber of many kinds is found in large bodies on the
larger streams and numerous groves are distributed throughout the county.
In the southern part of the county are numerous ponds which when improved
will serve as excellent depositories for the surplus water of the rolling
prairie lands, and give abundance of stock water. Much the larger portion
of the county is prairie, the soil of which is deep, rich and very productive.
The line of the Cedar Rapids railroad runs east and west through the
county, afifording excellent facilities for sending ofi^ surplus products. Stone
coal is found in several parts of the county but in rather thin vein to be
worked to advantage. Good building stone is afforded on the banks of the
streams.

"Improved lands are held at from ten to twenty-five dollars per acre,
unimproved lands, from three to ten per acre ; wages of farm hands, one
dollar per day ; mechanics from two and a half to three dollars per day.

"Nevada is the cobnty seat, near its center on the line of the railroad;
and Iowa Center and Cambridge are the other principal towns in the county.
A good new.spaper is published at Nevada."

WHAT THE RAH.ROAD SAID.

Another view of this time, written apparently with a large measure
of local intelligence, is taken from a work which but for the accompanying

336 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

extract would doubtless long ere this been lost sight of. The work was
entitled "Turner's Guide to The Rocky Mountains," and the extract indi-
cates clearly that the purpose of the work was to write up the country
along the line of the new Northwestern railroad and the regions in the
farther west to which the railroad led. Tliis work appears to have been
prepared in 1868, about two years later than the review previously quoted
from Mr. Benj. I". Taylor. Between its lines it is easy to read the exultation
of the railroad management over the benefits which the railroad was bring-
ing to the new country. But the statements are definite and, probably, to
a large extent accurate. The extract relating to Story County is as follows :
"Leaving State Center we immediately enter the county of Story and
passing the small depot tow'n of Colo, reach Nevada the seat of justice of
Story county, a pleasant prairie town of from ten to twelve hundred people.
The county was organized in 1854. and the first house was built in Nevada
the same year. The town was doomed to many years of languishment and
to those untoward vicissitudes incident to an inland point without the means
of egress to the outside world, when happily the railroad, now a part and par-
cel of the great Chicago & Northwestern corporation, came, like a special
providence, to its relief. Tlhe location was excellent, the surrounding coun-
try beautiful and rich in organic function almost beyond comparison, hypo-
thetical wealtli and im])ortance stood out in large proportions and colored
with hues deeply tinted a la rose, yet ingress and egress were slow, expen-
sive and altogether too occasional. .-\non the railroad came with its pon-
derous engines and sweeping trains, almost entirely annihilating distance
and overcoming obstructions which had theretofore startled the traveler
and retarded immigration. The golden moment was known to be at hand.
Hope deferred became crystallized in ])leasnrable fruition. Story Coimty, by
this new order of things, experienced a sort of miraculous reconstruction,
and Nevada, the county seat, was put in connection with the world of civili-
zation. The town is peculiarly and i)articularly of the prairie order. The
fecund soil will certainly cause grass to grow under the feet of tiie pedes-
trian unless his steps are made to the measure of (juick music. In this there
is no respect paid to persons. The town has fair developments and fair
prospects. Already there are four general stores, three drug stores, all of
them are very fine, aflfonling the only token that the place and county are
not blessed with perennial health ; two grocery stores, one variety store, one
clothing store, two harness stores and one leather and harness store. Hon-
orable mention deserves to be made of the fact that this place, like Cedar
Rapids, has no saloon nor any place where alcoholic liquors are publicly
sold. There is a union graded school with buildings costing ten thousand
dollars, free to all, which is in a very flourishing condition. The churches
are Methodist, New School Presbyterian and Cumberland Presbyterian,
which latter we confess to be an outshooting of evangelism beyond our
knowledge or com[)rchension. Spiritualism has here no s|)ecific organiza-
tion, but has some adherents.

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 337

"The county of Story has not a large population, aUhough it is gradually
and surely adding to its numbers. Ten thousand is now the ultimate figure.
It contains five hundred and seventy-six square miles or three hundred and
sixty-eight thousand six hundred and forty acres of land. The inevitable
prairie abounds, rich, black and productive, interspersed at intervals with
fine groves of oak, hickory and walnut, with maple and elm along the
streams. At least one-fifteenth of the surface is covered with timber.
Nearly one-third of the county is waste, and wild, ready to be appropriated
at moderate cost by new-comers. The soil, of sandy loam and vegetable
mould, is everywhere with a subsoil of clay and gravel. Water is abun-
dantly distributed by the Skunk river, East and West Indian and Squaw
creeks and their numerous tributaries. Springs of pure, cold water are
often met with. The surface is generally sufficiently rolling to afford per-
fect natural, and in all places to make, easy artificial drainage. Some coal
deposits have been found in the county, but none have yet been practically
developed. There are several quarries of fine building stone. The climate
is healthy and pleasant. Unimproved lands sell at from four to ten dollars
per acre, and improved farms from fifteen to thirty dollars. Timber lands
range from fifteen to sixty dollars per acre.

"Ames is in the western portion of Story County on the Skunk river.
The first settlement was made in July, 1865, about which time the railroad
was opened to the place. The population is now not far from five hundred.
The business of the town is considerable. There are four general stores,
one hardware store, two drug stores, three grocery stores and two lumber
dealers. Messrs. Evans & Co. deal largely in grain and other produce and
sell agricultural implements and farm machinery. Marshall, Drake & Rain-
bolt have a real estate and collecting agency, and Mr. Rainbolt is an attorney
at law. The town being within two miles of the agricultural college of the
state, a special act of the legislature prohibits the sale of wine, beer or any
spirituous liquors. As the general law does nearly the same thing the special
one may be considered, perhaps as a work of supererogation. If both laws
are not violated Ames may well claim the "crown of virtue," in Iowa. The
liveliest interest is taken in schools and a fine union school house is nearly
completed. The churches are Methodist, Episcopal and the Congregation-
alist, each having a good house of worship. There are two hotels. Ames is
directly north of Des Moines, the capital, and very near the geographical
centre of the state.

"The Iowa Agricultural College, an imposing structure, is located on the
state farm, about one mile and a half from Ames. The college is in plain
view from the railroad. The ofificers of the institution are as follows :

Hon. B. F. Gue, President.

Hon. H. M. Thomson, Secretary and Superintendent of farm.

Maj. S. E. Rankin, Treasurer.

C. A. Dunham, Architect.

"The farm contains several hundred acres of land, selected with due

338 HISTORY OF STORY COUXTY

reference to geographical position, timber, water and quality of soil. All
these conditions are happily blended. The college building is of brick, of
anii)le dimensions and constructed with due regard to its prospective uses.
It is nearly completed, and will be appropriately opened soon. This is an
institution of great imijortance to the state of Iowa, and cannot be too
higlily prized by the intelligent yeomanry of that State. It has ta.xeil the
time and energies of the best talent to bring it into existence and will, it is
hoped, long stand as a monument to the names of its i)rojectors. The col-
lege is munificently endowed by an act of congress appro])riating lands for
such purposes."

.\S SliK.N' BV THE IOWA ST.VTIi REGISTliR.

Again in the early part of 1869. we find evidence from the Iowa State
Register, which had become then, as it is now, the leading newspaper of
the State, that Story County was regarded as worthy of somewhat extended
notice. Accordingly the county was written up for that pai)er. not only in
general but also in considerable detail. And the general statement affords
quite definite opportunity for measuring progress made in some respects up
to that time. The most available part of this statement is as follows :

"The coimty has one railroad, the Chicago and Xorth Western, com-
pleted, running east and west near the middle, and bringing every portion
of it within from 12 to 14 miles of railroad advantages. On the line of this
road are four shipping [xjints within the limits of Story County, viz. : Colo,
Xevada, Ames and Ontario.

"The Iowa and Minnesota railroad is mostly graded from .Ames south
to Polk City, a distance of i8 miles, and will doubtless in due time give the
peo]5le of the county a southern outlet.

"A Railroad Company was organized about a year ago called the Eldora.
.Xevada and Des Moines Railroad Com|)any. and articles of incorporation
didy recorded. A survey has been made diagonally through the county from
northeast to southwest, passing through Xevada, and the citizens of that
place are .sanguine that his road also will be built. It will therefore be seen
that Story County is not without excellent railroad facilities, present aiul
prospective.

"The present courthouse is but a temporary building, but the question
of building a $40,000 edifice is now being agitated. The county ])oor farm
is situated two miles northwest of Xevada and contains 200 acres. .About
60 acres is in good state of cultivation, with a frame house on it. This
farm was |)urchased al)out a year ago for $16.50 per acre.

"An agricultural society was organized at Ames something over a year
ago, and has held one fair at that place. The present officers are W'm.
West, President: Cico. Child, vice president; and W. D. Lucas. Secretary.

"A proposition has been made to locate the fair grounds permanently
near the center of the countv. but as vet the matter has not been decided.

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 339

Another organization has more recently been effected at Nevada, and a
union of the two societies has been proposed.

"By the last October report of the superintendent we have the following
statistics in regard to educational matters: Persons in the county of the
school age, 3,505 ; attending school during last school year, 2,775 : average
attendance, 1,747; schools taught, 91; male teachers, 41, female teachers,
-J ; average compensation of male teachers, $9.96 per week ; average com-
pensation of female teachers $7.59 per week ; aggregate amount paid
teachers during the year, .$14,649; total number of school districts 75 — two
of them being independent districts ; total number of schools houses J2.
of which 4 are brick, 65 frame and three log; value of school houses
•■^23,330. I2>-S and value of apparatus $1,370.31. The school houses are
generally good, and several of a superior grade were erected last year.

"Ames had a good frame school house, 30x50 feet, and two stories
high, built in 1868. A fine school is now in progress, with about 120 pupils
in charge of Henry May as principal and Miss Ella Fitchpatrick as
assistant.

"Teachers institutes have been held annually for several years and are
usually well attended. — At the last, held in October, 51 teachers were pres-
ent. F. D. Thompson, the present superintendent is well advised in all
matters pertaining to schools. Story county has the advantage of having
located within her borders an educational institution next in grade and im-
portance to the State University.

"The leading religious denomination> of the county are ■Methodists,
Presbyterians, (X. S. ) congregationalists, Lutherans, Baptists and Chris-
tians. In Nevada the Methodists have just erected a handsome edifice at
a cost of $5,000. It is a frame building 36x60 feet and is supplied with a
bell weighing 1.020 pounds, which was purchased at a cost of $403.73. This
society was organized in 1856. The present membership is 140 with a
Sabbath School also of about 100 pupils. The present pastor is Rev. B.
Shinn.

"The New School Presbyterians have also a new church built last year.
It is a frame 38x46 feet and cost $3600. This society was organized in the
fall of 1864, by Rev. Isaiah Rie<l. who is the present pastor. The member-
ship is now about 40 and a Sabbath School of about 100 pupils.

"The Catholics have an organization in Nevada, and as I learn are
about to provide themselves with a church.

"Ames also has two good edifices for religious worship, belonging
respectively to the Methodists and Congregationalists.

"The Methodist church is a frame building erected in [866, and is
30x40 feet. This church has a large society, with many recent accessions,
and a Sabbath School of 75 pupils. Rev. E. Kendell is pastor. Revs. Miller
and Marshall are local ministers who have rendered efficient .service here.

340 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

"The Congregational church of Ames was erected in 1865 at a cost of
$1700 and is 30x40 feet in size. There is a large membership and a Sab-
bath School of 75 pupils. Rev. Simon Gilbert is pastor.

"The Baptists and Christian denominations also have societies at Ames.
There are Lutheran organizations in several places in the county, with some
two or three church edifices."

THE LOC.\L editor's VIEW.

Some editorial comments of the .-Egis, in May. i8U), afford still further
proof that the time was one of rapid transition in the afTairs and conditions
of the county. An extended list is given of the names of men who were
building residences at the county seat, and the more general condition is
noted as follows :

"The country is the very place to depend upon and Story county is set-
tling uj) rapidly. One cannot go any direction, for even a short distance,
hut he will find new houses and plenty of breaking. In conversation with
Mr. Child, President of the Agricultural .society, he informed us the pros-
pect was that more breaking would be done the present year than the pre-
vious si.x years. We were aware work was in progress, but tlid not set
our figures quite so high. Mr. Child is well posted in such matters and no
one will question his word in the least. Tlie improvements are general
throughout the county and are not confined to any one locality. Story is
one of the best counties in the state and will be all right soon.

"At all times of the day may prairie schooners be seen perambulating
our streets bound to that place of the muse. The West. We have heard
the west pronounced from the far west to the sunny south, up towards the
north pole, and farther west than this. Still the 'west' is mythical, delu-
sive. Travelers tell us that in the western territories and California they
tell about tlie 'west,' wiiat we here call the east, that place noted for super-
stitution and intolerance. Where is the west in our glorious country? Is
it not true "there is no east, no west, no south, no north?' Let one go to
the farthest standing place, and still one hears of the various points of the
compass, yet a little farther. It is simply a subtlety of speech, to serve a
local purpose, and right well does it serve it.

"Solilociuizing aside, movers of all kinds, classes, grades or by whatever
name they ma) he called, are now passing westward, to seek homes, many
of them in our glorious state, others go to the neighboring states and terri-
tories. If we were to make a gfiiess as to the nuniber of teams passing here
daily we would make the average as high as twenty-five, with the proba-
bility of its being considerably higher. The influx of settlers into Iowa has
never been equalled. North and south of us the same is the case. The
number of those stopping in the "garden of the world' — Iowa — is immense.
The only way to characterize it is by saying we are coming, coming, coming
without number and without reserve."

CHAPTER XXXII.
AMES AND THE NARROW GAUGE.

THE FOUNDING OF AMES.

As has been heretofore noted, the City of Ames with all of its present
growth, prosperity, modern improvements, great educational institution and
flattering prospects was not one of the original towns of the county. No
town was started or even projected at or near its present site by the orig-
inal settlers of that portion of the county. Possibly no particular explana-
tion is needed for the omission of pioneers to pick upon any one piece of
prairie as a location for a future city and seat of learning; but there are
two reasons apparent why some other sites should have been better suited
to pioneer conditions. One reason pertains naturally to Skunk river, the
crossing of which in the early days was probably as difficult opposite Ames
as it was anywhere. And the other reason pertains to Squaw Fork, which
lies west and southwest of the main part of Ames, and which, though not
nearly so troublesome as Skunk river, was quite capable in its lower reaches
of affording considerable obstruction to traffic. In other words, the loca-
tion of Ames is all right in a time when transportation is by railroads and
improved highways ; but it was quite unsuited for a community center in
a time when routes of travel were by prairie trails and fords. Nor did the
location of The State Agricultural College and Farm on the west side of
Squaw Fork, in 1859, convey to the inhabitants thereabout any apparent
suggestion of a future town where Ames was later established. In the first
place, Nevada activity and influence had contributed chiefly toward bring-
ing the prospective institution to the county and had seemingly been unaf-
fected by any apprehension that the upbuilding of a rival town might
thereby be occasioned ; also New Philadelphia, to the westward, was as
near to the college location as in that time any town needed to be to any
particular spot ; and finally, if anyone should at that time have seen vis-
ions of a city near the college, he most certainly would not have imagined
the town over to the eastward across Squaw Fork but, more likely, would in
his mind, have put it to the west and southwest of the college where, in very
recent years, has sprung up the district which features the Fourth Ward
of Ames. So although a somewhat imposing farm house was built on the
college grounds and interest was directed more or less actively toward the

341

342 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

institution lliat was to be, the owners of the farms between Skunk liottoui
and Squaw Fork, entertained as yet no thought of cutting uj) their land
into city lots.

Xor does the coming of the Cedar Rapids and Missouri River railroad
— later the Chicago, Iowa and Xebraska and still later and more perma-
nently the Chicago & Xorthwestcrn — appear to have conveyed any local
suggestion of a town in the particular spot where Ames was founded. One
may even suspect that the absence of such suggestion was a material reason
for the selection of the particular location. For the absence of suggestion
left the price of land in the immediate locality undisturbed and one of the
very notable jirerogatives of rajlroad management in times of pioneer rail-
road construction was to buy up cheaj) farms in favorable places along the
line of a projected railroad and to locate on such a farm a station and a
town. In the case of .\nies lhi> mode of operation appears to have been
singidarly illustrated. The location of the station and town seems to have
been quite distinctly a little side enterprise of John I. Blair, the great cap-
italist who was the chief promoter of the Cliicago iS: Xorthwestcrn railroad.
And the matter of securing the site was conducted with exceptional shrewd-
ness. The agent for the purchase was Mrs. Cynthia ( ). Duff, a woman of
no especial pretensions but of much personal worth, who appeared in the
neighborhood with plenty of money and bought the farm next east of Sher-
iff lIoggatt"s. In due time the farm, or the most of it, was conveyed to
parties more directly representing the railroad management, the station was
located and the main part of the town platted. The determination as to
the location became public along in the fall of 1864. The railroad had
leached Xevada w itli its construction on the F'ourth day of July of that year
and traffic had almost immediately been established to this point. There
was some deliberation about the further extension to Boone ; but on Oct.
19, 1864, The /Egis made what is undoubtedly the tirst public reference to
the subject in hand, in a short ])aragra])h as follow s :

"The railroad company, as we learn, have determined to locate their next
depot to the west of Xevada at a point on the Squaw I'ork, near Sheriff
lloggatt's farm. \Miat name it will bear we have not learned, but suggest
the highly ap])ro])riate one of "Ditto," which has already the sanction of
common usage in these parts. ""

The point of the joke alx)ut '"Ditto" is lost to us with the passage of
time, but the development of the i)lot already outlined was further noted
by the .Egis on Xov. 30 of the same year, when a name had evidently been
found authoritatively for the tow n and some of its hopes or prospects were
noted thus:

"We learn that the Cedar Rapids and Missouri River company are about
surveying a line to determine the practicability of building a branch from
.^mes Station in this cotmty to Des Moines. Letters say it is the best that
could be chosen, boing a dividing ridge very nearly all the way. If such a
branch should be from that point, we may look for a right smart sjiecida-

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 343

tion in corner lots. By the way, the company have been securing consid-
erable tracts of land in that neighborhood, which may have a meaning."

From all of the foregoing it is easy to see that when Ames actu-
ally was started its initial progress at least was bound to be rapid. It was
a station on the first railroad across the state ; there were suggestions — later
to be realized — of a branch railroad to Des Aloines, assurances sometime
of a college nearby, and a developing community about it which appears to
have accepted instantly anil cheerfully the new town as the hub of its af-
fairs. So in the season of 1865 the town sprang up quite rapidly and in
the course of the season appears to have gained the recognized character-
istics of a new and hopeful railroad town. One of these characteristics was
the first church, which had been erected by the Congregationalists and
which because of its being the first church there was the recipient of the
only birth gift that we know to have been presented by Congressman Oakes
Ames to the town which bears his name. This gift was a church bell and
its presentation and acceptance suggest naturally something of the story
of the giver and of the naming of the town. Oakes Ames was both a
financier and a statesman. He serveil in Congress from Massachusetts
during most of the sixties, and he risked, and nearly lost, a very large for-
tune in the promotion of far western railroads. Worse than that, he, for
a time, lost his reputation in scandals that later on arose over the construc-
tion of the Union Pacific, and which, most unfortunately, he did not out-
live although in their relation to himself they were not especially long-
lived. The time when the town of Ames was established was before Mr.
.Ames had rendered his greatest public services and of course, long before
the clouds had come upon his reputation. But his interest and participa-
tion in the promotion of pioneer railroads in the West were already mani-
fest, and it came about therefore very naturally that when his friend and
associate, John I. Blair, was manipulating the construction of the first and
best railroad across the state of Iowa, Mr. Blair should have named for
Mr. Ames about the most promising new town that the railroad manage-
ment was laying out. And insomuch as Mr. Ames was a man of liberality
and appreciation as well as of ])olitical acumen and business sagacity, it fol-
lowed that when the town that had been named in his honor got big enough
to liave a church he was considerate enough to donate a bell for the church.
This he had done and the local satisfaction thereat was expressed in formal
resolutions by the Congregational society of .Ames, which resolution de-
clared as follows :

"Whereas, through the kindness and disinterested liberality of the Hon.
Oakes Ames of Massachusetts we are recipients of a first class church
bell, therefore, be it,

"Resolved, that we. desiring to express our appreciation of his continued
remembrance and timely and appropriate gift, do hereby manifest our grat-
itude for this exhibition of public spirit and generosity and tender to him
our sincere thanks for this magnificent present ; and be it further.

344 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

"Resolved, that these resolutions be published in the Story County ^Egis
and a copy sent to Mr. Ames."

The later explosion and scanilal with which Mr. Ames's name is his-
torically identilied, related to the Credit Mobilier, which was an American
company with a French name that had the contract for the construction of
the Union Pacific railroad. The stock of this company Mr. Ames distrib-
uted among public men. where, as he said, "it would do the most good."
The performance was not in accordance with the best official taste; but
when the exi)osure came, Ames was too indei^endenl to lie out of the mat-
ter, and he was made the scapegoat of numerous politicians who w^ith less
frankness dumped onto him the responsibility for everything in congress
that needed explanation. As a result the house of representatives passed
a resolution censuring him, and he died not long after as the result, it was
believed, of the humiliation. In the calmer judgment of time, however,
it is felt that Ames was the victim of much injustice and the great services
that he actually rendered to the country have come to be really appreciated.
His sons fought after his death to vindicate his memory, and one of them
became governor of Massachusetts — which is a position of very great honor
as the matter is understood in that state. The incident of the church bell
illustrates his disposition before his troubles came; and it has since become
evident that if he had lived a few years longer he would have seen the
troubles that vexed him to death pass into insignificance. He was in fact
a pretty good man to name a town after.

The leading matter in connection with Ames' development during the
season of 1866, was the successful struggle with Nevada for the location
of the cross railroad to Des Moines. But the railroad itself did not pro-
gress so rapidly as did the controversy over its location and this subject
will be considered further on. The general local progress, however, was
considerable and its measure is given with some definiteness in a letter
written to the TEgis in March, 1867, by Captain Lindsey M. Andrews.
Capt. Andrews was an ex-soldier, ex-editor, ])olitician and man of affairs
who shortly after the war bought what has since been known as the Mc-
Elyea farm close to Ames, and was a prominent citizen of the county for
a number of years, but moved away before very many of his predictions
had time for fulfillment. He was a scholarly man and wdiat he had to say
was well stated as w ell as reliable. At this time he said :

"Six months ago our family settled here. At that time Ames contained
one small dry-goods store, one drug store and one blacksmith anel wagon
■-hop. A few days after this our blacksmith and wagonmaker moved their
shop to Nevada. The Congregationalists had commenced building a
church, and the M. E. denomination had bcgim to purchase lumber for
their church. Mr. Hoggatt & Co. also had a ware-room and a few thou-
sand feet of lumber, which they callefl a lumber yard. I believe these em-
braced all the business establishments then in operation. Since which
time, the two churches have been completed and have more th.in quad-

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 345

rupled the number of their communicants. A new wagon shop and two
new blacksmith shops have been built and put in operation ; a new dry-
goods store, three grocery stores, an eating house and a new drug and book
store have been opened, and business houses containing them have been
built. Two large hotels have also been built and opened since that time,
also hardware and tin shop, harness shop and shoe shop. The citizens
have also taken initiatory steps for building a large new school house, which
by another spring will be needed by at least one hundred and fifty pupils.
A carriage shop and several shops and stores are already in process of erec-
tion or under contract. A saw-mill is advertised to be here soon, and large
numbers of logs await it. A grist-mill company is also being formed.

"Nor is the country in the vicinity of town behind it in progress. New
houses are springing up all around ; while new settlers are pouring in by
scores. Only a few days ago, I am told, twenty-seven members of the M.
E. church alone came here to make their homes near the State Agricultural
College, only a little more than a mile distant from town.

"Probably the building of the I. M. & M. railroad attracts now a few.
The contractors who are building the road e.xpect to put a very large force
at work on the grade near Ames as soon as the weather will pennit.

"Mr. Richardson, contractor of the Agricultural College building, is
pushing the carpenter work and stone cutting for that building forward
with an energy that promises an early completion of the structure. Mr.
Thompson, I believe, contemplates making numerous improvements on tlie
farm during the coming season.

"Many of our farmers are preparing to build a great amount of post
and rail fence (supposably to replace rail fence) and to break considerable
prairie. If this portion of Story county continues to improve for a year
to come as rapidly as it has during the last six months it will rival some of
the young cities of adjoining counties. True, Story county is in places quite
wet and interspersed with numerous ponds ; yet it is not unhealthy. The
water in these ponds is pure, and the soil in most places is rich. In fact,
for grazing Story county is not excelled in central Iowa. (Note the ab-
sence of any remarks upon Story as an agricultural county.)

"In the vicinity of Ames there is a plenty of timber, which lines the
valleys of Skunk river, Squaw, Clear, Warrell and Walnut creeks, all of
which, save Walnut, center within a mile of Ames. These give this lo-
cality all the grades of soil found in the state.

"Several enterprising farmers hereabouts are making fine beginnings
in the dairy business, for which these hills, bottoms, groves, streams and
springs so well fit the country. A cheese factory at Ames is already con-
templated.

"After all, it is only a question of time for Ames to grow into quite a
little village. When the I. M. & M. R. R. is completed, as it will be before
long, forming a continuous line from Galveston to St. Paul, Ames will be
a fine railroad town, having at present the advantages of a continuous rail

346 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

from Xew York to Fort Kearney. The freight business has increased
more than tenfold in six months; but though settlers are pouring in rap-
idly, yet we ha\e room and work for hundreds more."

Tin-; loWA & .Ml.N.NICSOTA K.\Il.RO.\D.

It has been before noted that the principal event of the year 1866, so
far as Ames was concerned, was the campaign for the location of the Iowa
& Minnesota railroad, or in other words "The Narrow Gauge," which later
became the Des Moines branch of the Northwestern. The same event was
also the most imirortant of the year for the county as a whole, for though
Ames did not immediately realize upon all its anticipations with respect to
the second road in the county, its general influence was very great. The cam-
])aign began very early in the year and it was actively conducted by both
.\mes and Nevada and the rivalry of the two towns was most actively pro-
moted by the management of the railroad. Mr. R. F. Roberts of Des
Moines, vice president of the railroad, appears to have been the chief fo-
menter of this divisive strife between the principal towns of Story county;
and he appears further to have been an adept l)oth at promoting the strife
and at getting results for his company. .\nd the strife was not confined
to Nevada and Ames, for Cambridge would be on the Nevada route and
was the ally, therefore, of Nevada, while Polk City was on the Ames route
and accordingly was the ally of .'Xmes. The record of the matter is found
chiefly in the columns of the Nevada paper, for as yet there was no Ames
paper; but from even this biased source of information, taken with the
general knowledge of the matter that has come with the ])assing years, it
is easy to see that there were two sides to the question. It was in effect
admitted from the Nevada standpoint that it would cost ten or fifteen per
cent more to build the railroad from Des Moines to Nevada than to build
it from Des Moines to .^mes ; but on the other hand it was claimed for
Nevada that the natural route from Kansas City through Des Moines to
.St. Paul lay by the way of Nevada ; and that in the long run, the great
north and south route woidd be much better built through Nevada than
through Ames. This being a fair statement of the issue, and we believe
it was such, and it being further conceded that the people along either route
from Des Moines to the Northwestern railroad would contribute about all
they could and that the difference in their ability to contribute was not
great, the determinaiicn was <lestined to turn upon the relative an.xicty of
the railroad management for economical construction or for ultimate ad-
vantage. .\s a matter of fact, the railroad was built about as cheaply as
was possible and that only after long and wearisome delay. The five i)er
cent tax in Washington townshi]) in aid of the railroad was carried by only
a few votes, and we may well believe that if the tax tlurc had been de-
feated the route to Ames wotdd have been abandoned ; but the tax there
was carried and it was carried also in the Polk county township which

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 347

included Polk City ; and also it appears that the right of way was almost
wholly donated. So the friends of the west route maintained, by their
liberality, all of the advantage which was primarily theirs by reason of
easy construction. It is very evident that with the railroad management
such practical argiunents as these were not to be overcome by any expansive
discussion of routes to St. Paul. What the railroad managers were actu-
ally figuring on was a railroad of three foot gauge, the cheapest that could
jjossibly be built, from Des Moines to the Xorthwestern railroad ; and to
this end, it was manifestly easier to follow the divide to Ames with no
bridge of consequence excepting that over Squaw Fork than to come u|j
through Cambridge and cross Skunk Bottom.

But this conclusion was not accepted until the matter had been very
thoroughly thrashed out. As early as January, 1866, the subject was ac-
tively mooted and from time to lime meetings were held, committees ap-
])ointed. subscriptions raised and general activity manifested. Money was
"raised on both sides for the survey and the survey was run to both Nevada
and Ames. The Neyaila editor reported that skeptics of the county seat
were wont to suggest that the survey was all that Nevada would see of the
railroad ; but he insisted that such discouragement should not prevail : arid
be urged that the fight for Nevada should be kept up — as it was — ; but
fighting did not change the fact that the governing principle of economy
was sending the road to Ames. Long years since, the Nevada argument
as to the better route from Kansas City to St. Paul and Minneapolis, which
last named city was not nearly so important then as it is now, has been
twice justified: first by the course of the Chicago & Northwestern in
deflecting its north and south line to the westward rather than to the east-
ward in the <lirection of the Twin Cities and by the ultimate adoption of
the Nevada route by another railroad system for its trunk line between the
cities noted. But this is another story. The present proposition is that
Ames by a narrow margin carried its tax and with the help of others sim-
ilarly interested made its natural advantages count and so secured the rail-
road. Insomuch as the matter was largely an Ames an3 Nevada fight and
likewise the first fight of that order, the story of the fight may be concluded
by the Nevada report of its outcome. This statement was in the -"F-gis
for July 20, 1866, as follows :

"The board of directors of the I. & M. railway company on Wednesday
last held their meeting in Des Moines and voted to locate the line of their
road to Ames. So good-bye railroad. The unfairness our people complain
of is this, that the company after sucking four or five hundred dollars out
of us for surveys, never gave us an ofifer of how much would secure the
road. It might have been beyond our means to raise, but we would have
been better pleased had it been made. As is now appears, we were used
as the monkey's paw to rake the dimes out of our neighbois at Ames."

That the location of the railroad, however, was not quite the same thing
as the building of a railroad, the people of Ames had abundant o])portunity'

348 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

to realize for some time. The right of way having been donated very
largely, and a narrow gauge railway not requiring to be especially well
graded, the construction work on the new road progressed after a fashion
for a while ; but the matter came to a stop and for some time the stop ap-
peared to be indefinite. In October, 1868, the editor of the /Egis reported
having spent a day in Ames and further observed "The faith and hoi)e that
animate the denizens of that little town are certainly deserving of a liberal
reward; and such seems now imminent in the prospect of the resumption
of work on the I. iK: M. railway." Perhaps the work was resumed, but
the road was not comi)leted in that year nor in the following year. How-
ever, in 1874, it was actually built and though it was not nearly so much of
a railroad then as it is now the little cars it operated were a great conveni-
ence.

In the middle seventies the road was extended northwartl from .\mes to
Story City and up into Hamilton County where it stopped on the prairie
at a now forgotten ])lacc called Callanan. But after being operated for
four or five years as a narrow gauge, the road was bought by the Xorth-
western. The line l)t'tween Ames and Des Moines w'as promptly widened
to standard gauge and also straightened sufficiently to cut out Polk City,
.save for the spur to that village, all too familiar to travelers : and the line
north from Ames was also widened soon after. During the years that the
narrow gauge was operated, it was the subject of very many jokes ; but
it became the basis of a very important line of railroad; and to the ])eople
of Ames and other places that contributed to its construction it was worth
all it cost them.

m;\v AdiMiri/ri'KAL ham., mwA statk collkck, amks

CENTRAL Bl'ILDIXd AND MOKHILL IIAI.L. KiWA SI'ATK i '()LLK(. K, AMKS

CHAPTER XXXIII.
FOUNDING THE COLLEGE.

As is often the case in the matter of the first steps toward the founding
of some institutions, the people who, in the first half of 1859, secured for
Story County the location of the Iowa State Agricultural College had but
small conception of the work they were actually doing. Their contribu-
tion, with that of their neighbors in Boone County, had an estimated value
of $21,000 of which amount $10,000 was in bonds voted by the people
of Story County and the remainder was in private donations of cash and
of land. This contribution, however, was a larger one than the people of
any other county would make for the institution, and trifling as the amount
was in comparison with the sums that have since been put into the institu-
tion by the state and national governments, it was sufficient in the existing
conditions to secure the prospective institution. What the people actually
secured at the time was a name for an institution and a chance that some
time the institution would be of account. The original state appropriation
with which their cooperation was invited was for only $10,000; and there
was very little suggestion in that amount of the public liberality, that would
be necessary for the upbuilding of a considerable college.

The few hopes that may have been reasonably raised by the action
of the general assembly in making the original $10,000 appropriation, were
also very slow of realization. The next general assembly did not follow
up the matter and the friends of the college proposition were glad to get
through the session without having the previous action rescinded. The
conduct of this general assembly is abundant evidence that public interest
m the project was very slight; and it was only the activity of a few far-,
sighted men, among whom were B. F. Gue and Peter Melendy, that kept
the project alive. In 1862, however, came the great measure of encourage-
ment of which no one in this locality could have had any anticipation, when
the location was being determined. In the meantime, Lincoln had been
elected and the withdrawal of southern senators had put the republican
party in control of both branches of Congress. The administration and
Congfress were abundantly occupied in efforts to put down the rebellion
and save the Union ; but they nevertheless found time for a few very im-
p>ortant constructive measures. A few of these measures were especially
directed toward the development of the West, one of them being the home-

349

Vol 1—23 ' " ■■

350 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

stead law and another the law making a grant of lands for aid in construc-
tion of the Union I'acitic railroad ; and quite as important as either of
these measures in its far reaching intiuence. if not in its immediate conse-
quences, was a further law making a grant of lands in aid of state agri-
cultural colleges, 'i'he grant was, in fact, munificent, and Governor Kirk-
wood promptly convened tlie general assembly in special session to accept
it. Two years later a quite determined effort, for which Governor Kirk-
wood was the chief sijokesman, was made to turn this grant to the uses of
the State University upon condition that the University should establish
and maintain a department for special instruction in agriculture. This was
the course actually adopted in numerous other states and one may readily
believe that it would have been adopted in Iowa but for the definite en-
gagement into which the state had alreatly entered with the peope of Stor>'
County. The bargain had been made five years before and the money of
the people of the county accepted and there were in the state government
enough friends of the separate college idea and enough believers in the
square deal to hold to the original program under the new conditions and
to give to the prospective Story County institution the splendid land grant.

So this general assembly of 1864 made a further aj^propriation of S20,-
OCX), to start the college building. The building was to cost altogether $50,-
000, and to plans of this scope the trustees appointed were required to con-
fine themselves ; but they found an architect whose conscience or ideas nf
cost of construction were sufficiently elastic so that he laid out the plans
of a building that would cost a good deal more money but which he said
could be built for $50,000. So the trustees started out to lay the founda-
tions of a building which in fact i)roved to be fairly satisfactory for its
IJurposes for nearly thirty years, and to complete which the legislature
in 1866 appropriated $91,000 more, in 1868 $23,000 more, and in 1870
$50,000 still more. We do not understand, however, that there was anv
great amount of grumbling over this architectural expansion. The war
was over, the state was rapidly settling up. and the rents from the 204.000
acres of the original land grant were accumulating so rapidly that the man-
agement of the college lands found it convenient to buv with the accumu-
lation 15.000 acres more. The state had finally caught the fever of having
an agricultural college, it had the money and the people of Story County
years before had persuaded the state to locate the institution on the west
side of Squaw Fork.

So the college was actually to be started and Messrs. due and Mclendv.
as the business end of the board of trustees and of the committee havin/?
the matter particularly in charge, started out to find a faculty, and to out-
line generally the scope of the institution. Their idea of a faculty as evi-
denced by their report was a president, four professors and two assistants.
For a course of study they proposed to follow the program of the original
college act. which prescribed chiefly the natural and physical .sciences, and
they proposed to aflford the students abundant opportunity to work for their

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 351

living and education. A boarding department was necessary because there
was not in the vicinity of the college any town that could provide sufficient
accommodations for students, and in order that the dormitories might not
he overnm by students from the immediate vicinity of the college, to the
exclusion of later comers from greater distances, it was stipulated that ad-
mission should be to one student only for each representative in the state
legislature. These and kindred provisions were approved and carried out
in good faith and the possible embarrassments as to the limitations as to
students was conveniently evaded by receiving the surplus applicants from
the locality as proxies for distant and unrepresented counties.

Just how the committee before mentioned and the board of trustees
itself came to make the selection that was made for the first president of
the new college, we have never seen fully explained ; but the undoubted
fact is that after diligent and quite well directed inquiry the choice fell
upon A. S. Welch and he was on the nth of May, 1868, elected as the first
president of the college. He assisted in the organization of the institution
and he was present at the opening of a preliminary term extending from
Oct. 21, 1868 to Jan. 7, 1869; but he was accorded leave of absence from
November till ]\Iarch and in the interim the duties of president were dis-
charged by Prof. G. \V. Jones, who had been chosen as the first professor
of mathematics. President Welch returned in March and on the I7tli of
that month was formally inaugurated. The formal dedication of the col-
lege and its opening for its first regular term occurred on the following day,
March 18, 1869.

President Welch was a man well fitted for the position and work he
thus assumed. He was a man of fine ability, thorough education and apti-
tude for administrative responsibility. He was a Michigan man, had been
an educator in that state before the war; and during the war he had been
a field officer in the Second Michigan Cavalry. At the close of the war, like
a good many other federal officers, he remained in the South and in the
vernacular of that region he became a "carpet-bagger" in I'lorida. As such,
he was upon the reconstniction of the state of Florida, elected as one of
its two new United States Senators. He was yet to assume the ])Osition
of senator when he was elected president of the Iowa Agricultural College,
and it was in order that he might occupy his senatorial seat for the last
short session of his term of service that he was accorded the leave of ab-
sence before noted. President Welch therefore came to his position
schooled in educational, military and political afifairs ; and the training he
had enjoyed came w'ell in play for the organization of the college and the
winning for it of the necessary popular favor and political support in the
state. And in this work he unquestionably succeeded. The students loved
him and, when they became alumni, they fought for him. The farmers of
the state were brought to regard the college as their particular institution,
and the leading politicians of the state were the confidential friends of the
president. Appropriations were secured about as fast as they could be

352 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

hoped for and the college distinctly prospered. The result certainly jus-
titied the principles which he laid down in his inaugural address, along with
numerous other excellent propositions, substantially as follows:

"Scarcely of less interest than the novel events that distinguish the
opening of this new institution, is the fact that the plan of organization
which we have adopted commits it to the promotion of two great and salu-
tary educational reforms.

"One of these is the withdrawal of the ancient classics from the place
of honor which they have largely held in our college curricula, and the
liberal substitution of those branches of natural science which underlie the
industries of this beautiful state.

"The other is the free admission of women, on equal terms with young
men, to all the privileges and honors which the institution can bestow."

In regard to the removing of the classics from their usual place of
honor. President Welch saitl that there are two sources of values in any
knowledge :

"i — Its effectiveness as a means of intellectual discipline.

"2 — The degree of its adaptation to further tlie interests and employ-
ments of life."

His claims for the natural sciences were that they fultill the need of
intellectual discipline, which is the main claim for the classics, and that in
addition they meet the second requirement of being adapted to the needs
and pursuits of life.

In regard to the admission of women to colleges on equal terms with
men, President Welch voiced a sentiment not by any means universal in
his time, but considered now as most sane and judicious. After a generous
defense of the mental capabilities of women, and an explanation of the
course offered them as one both for general culture and special jireparation
in home-making, President Welch said :

"We offer, then, to the young woinen who, from time to time, shall
resort to this collie, a scope for scientific progress and research as unlim-
ited and free as that which we offer to the other sex :

"ist — Because all the faculties of the human mind have, without respect
to gender, a natural, unquestionable right to discipline and development.

"2nd — Because the duties of motherhood to which God has appointed
her. require, for their complete performance, a wide and cultivated intelli-
gence.

"3rd — Because general intellectual and moinl culture will sanctify, ele-
vate, and purify the influences of the home, and render it a genuine school
for the training of the future citizen.

"4th — Because we would enable her to make provision for her own self-
support, by a special preparation to engage in inany suitable cinploN'ments
on a footing equal with man. both as to the skill and the remuneration of
the worker.

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ENGINEERING BUILDING, IOWA STATE COLLEGE, AMES

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 353

"5th — Because we would supply as far as possible one great necessity
to woman, namely, a means for the culture and a field for the action of
peculiar talent, thus giving relief to the aimlessness of many lives, and add-
ing many noble workers to the world.

"6th — Because we would call all learning and culture to the aid of
woman in accomplishing her natural mission, the advancement of general
morality and virtue."

So the college was opened, without arbitrary restrictions as to the sex
of its students, and with a purpose to afiford especial opportunities to
those who were seeking education in the sciences rather than in the class-
ics and belles lettres. And the original program was adhered to about as
well as original programs in such cases are likely to be. Starting in with
a faculty of half a dozen, the number of instructors was gradually and
steadily increased.

The number of students in the preliminary term in the Fall of 1868 was
70. Proceeding upon the original idea of admitting one student from each
representative district, there naturally arose an interesting question as to
who should be the preferred student from Story County. There were sev-
eral applicants and a drawing of lots which resulted in favor of George
Mullen as principal and Oscar Alderman as alternate. But John Wells and
the others upon conferring with President Welch were cheerfully assured
that he thought there would be no difficulty about finding for all of them
places as representatives for other counties. As a matter of fact they all
got in, and this was about the last that was heard about the rule of one stu-
dent from a county. The College started for its regular term the following
spring with a few more students and accessions to the student body were
duly received from time to time ; but an interesting feature of the matter
is that they all appear to have started very much upon a level. The Col-
lege was not only a new institution, but it was new of its kind and in this
vicinity new for any kind of an institution for the diffusion of higher ed-
ucation. The time was even before the date of organized high schools and
the material which the College had to work upon was essentially the boys
and girls who had gotten about as far along as the district schools could
take them and who were not too old to consider hopefully the proposition
of going on further when the opportunity was presented to them. There
were few if any transfers from other colleges with claims for advanced
standing, but on the contrary, they all started as freshmen. Those who
started at the beginning and who stuck to the proposition, graduated at
the end of four years ; and those who came in later and also stuck to it,
graduated later. The first bunch were never headed except by the faculty
and for all four years of their college life they had the fun of being all the
seniors there were. They graduated in the Fall of 1872, to the number of
26, undoubtedly the most distinguished class in all the earlier years or per-
haps all the years of the institution.

354 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

The College in these earlier years was conducted chiefly in the old main
building. Here the students lived, ate. slept and made for the authorities
such trouble as they dared. There was a lot of trouble about heat and lights
and the arrangement by which the college year began in March continued
through the most oi the summer and ended in November possessed the dual
advantage of enabling the students to get out and teach the winter term of
district .school for their ne.xl year's expenses, and of enabling the tru.stees
to evade the practically insurmountable ]5roblem of warming the main build-
ing in really cold weather. Once in the early ilays they even tried the ex-
periment of cutting the term two weeks short in order to avoid the colder
fall weather; but the season that year shut down two weeks the earlier
and the results of the experiment were not encouraging.

All of which illustrates that in spite of the generosity of the congres-
sional land grant and the liberality of the state and the diplomacy of the
College president there were real troubles about getting the college started.
But it did start and the people of Story County never had occasion to be
sorry for the $21,000 that they put into its original location.

CHAPTER XXXIV.
FIXING NEVADA'S BUSINESS CENTER.

One subject that has been repeatedly referred to in these pages has
been the division of the town of Nevada, once the question of the Slough.
In the beginning there was a north square where the court-house is and a
south square where the city park is, each square being the north half of
the block indicated. About each of these squares centered a portion of
the business of the town ; but there never could be an agreement as to
concentration in either place and each side was strong enough to keep the
other side from establishing a recognized supremacy. The resulting diffi-
culties were without number and the troubles occasioned were intermin-
able. It has already been recorded that in pursuance of the orders of as
many official church meetings the lumber for the First Methodist church
was actually moved three times across the Slough ; and such waste of en-
ergy as is here indicated faintly suggests but does not measure the em-
barassment of the local situation. The Republican bolt of 1867 and the
enduring factional quarrels that resulted from it were fought essentially
over the division of the slough ; and the division, in fact, made very much
of a mess of politics, business and religion. The editor of the /Egis was
very cautious about getting mixed in the matter, but in January, 1865,. he
let himself go in the following language :

"We note another of those periodical movements, hinting toward a
wiser policy by our business men this week. The plan of concentrating the
exchange business of the town on one of the streets is again receiving at-
tention. Every business man with any e.xperience in trade knows that it
is better for all concerned, customers and salesmen, that the buying and
selling should be done by merchants in close proximity to each other. Our
tradesmen when asked all admit the fact and express the wish that it were
so but unfortunately no two of their number get up the working heat at
the same time. For a year past each in his turn had had an attack of this
concentration fever; and lately circumstances have transpired which prom-
ise a renewed attack of the disease to extend, it is to be hoped, to a suffi-
cient number to induce some specific action. We have been ciiary of much
remark heretofore on this question — it has always been a delicate one — a
known weak spot which it was dangerous to touch witli truth. This much
we can say, and risk our reputation as a prophet on it, that Nevada will

355

856 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

never command that share of pubHc attention and the trade of the county
which properly belongs to her, until these perplexing questions of 'the
slough,' 'north and south sides,' and scattering business are permanently
settled. And there are men enough now looking to the next season as a
building season, to settle it effectually — if they will."

Again, late in March of the following year, 1866, the editor relieved
himself in an editorial a half column in length, which tells a whole lot of
conditions here as they used to be. The editorial was headed, "To Be or
not to Be," and it was in full as follows :

"There is an evil which the business interest of this village has tolerated
long enough, it would seem. We refer to the division of the business of
the village — a portion of our stores and business houses being centered
around the south square and another portion about the north square, with
a considerable unoccu])ied space intervening. Not altogether unoccu]>ied
either, for the brilliant waters of the 'slougli" go cascading, witli merry
laughter, between the two villages — for such they are in effect. No busi-
ness man. of himself and without community of action, wishes to raise
anything like a respectable business building so long as it is uncertain which
side of town will eventually be the business quarter. .And this feeling of
uncertainty is not confined to one side of the village, it is shared alike by
both. Persons there are who this spring feel able and are anxious to va-
cate the old shells which have contained their wares during the chrysalis
stage preceding the advent of railroad and telegraph, but there arises this
never ending slough question, to deter them and keep them shady. Our
idea for the settlement of this point is this: Let some six or eight of our
'heaviest men' caucus and if possible agree on which side they will do
business, and having so determined, let them proceed to build one or more
respectable brick blocks with halls above and store rooms below. This will
determine the question in the minds of such small fry as the -'Egis fellow
and others, who will soon be girting around said brick block and nestling
into neat commodious business rooms like a covey of young quail before
harvest time. If the aforesaid six or eight men cannot agree where the
Broadway of Nevada shall be, then let each one pitch in on his own hook
and build and fight, and fight and builil, until we grow in spite of evil coun-
sels. Again we are suffering for lack of a sufficient amount of business
rooms. There is no room of sufficient size not already occupied, where a
'heavy man' from abroad can put a stock of goods and try the market.
Such stocks have gone past us within a fortnight, and for just the reason
stated. In this the community is playing a losing game, and in five minutes
conversation we can convince any man of it. What say you, merchants
and others? Shall we continue to poke along 'at this poor dying rate,' or
«hall we attempt to inaugurate a new state of affairs?"

Such lamentations, be it noted, were written nearly three and two years
respectively before the bolt and the settlement of the controversy ; and
the first of them a year before the aforesai<l journeyings of the lumber for

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 357

the Methodist church. If the town had heen incorporated and if one side
or the other could then have gotten control of the town council, that side
might have ordered some public inprovements that would, or ought to, have
been decisive. But it was not until after the trouble had been fought out
on other than strictly municipal lines that it seems to have occurred seri-
ously to the people to incorporate the town. After the matter had been
fought out as will be hereafter related, it became necessary for the vic-
torious north side to widen Lynn street along the business district. This
matter was accomplished with much more of diplomacy and much less of
friction, for the distance of two and a half blocks from the south side of
the court house half-block to 2nd avenue north. The further widening of
the street for another half block south and for three blocks north to the
railroad being a much later story. Another matter which came about ten
years later but which is so closely related to the present matter as to be
best treated with it, was the moving of the Northwestern depot, from east
of Pine street to west of Lynn. The removal of the south side business to
the north side was effectively started in 1867 and for the most part was
actually done in the first part of 1868. The happy agreement for the wid-
ening of the street by moving back the west side buildings at the expense
of the owners of the east side property was effected in 1872; and tlie
final and conclusive establishment of the business center in its permanent
location w-as clinched by the removal of the Northwestern depot in 1877:
In these several enterprises for the consolidation of the city the most ac-
tive and efficient agent was Mr. Frank D. Thompson, lawyer, county super-
intendent and general promoter of movements for the general public ad-
vantage. Naturally, therefore, the editor has availed himself of the priv-
ileges of a long standing friendship and has appealed to Mr. Thompson
to furnish his story of the movements under consideration. This story
which, as we have indicated, is so full of significance for Nevada, Mr.
Thompson, wintering in California, has furnished as follows:

F. D. Thompson's Story of the Con.solidation.

Los 'Angeles, California, January 3, iqii.

Friend W. O. — You ask me how and why Lynn Street became the
business street of the City of Nevada. Well, I can see why you have
asked me for this information, having passed three-fourths of a century,
and spent over fifty years in Nevada, would be presumed to know.

The original Town of Nevada in the year 1853 was platted with two
half blocks, one north and the other south of a ravine. The first building
was erected by T. E. Alderman, (the first settler) abutting the South side
of the North half block. It was used by him in a dual capacity, as a
residence and for a store (a granite marker now indicates its site in the
Court House Park).

358 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

Later business buildings were erected adjacent to and around both
of the half blocks.

The two exponents for growili and l)u>ine,--s development were T. J.
Adanison for the South, and T. 1'.. Alderman for the Xortli half block
districts.

This was the condition \shen 1 came to Xcvatla in the l*'all of i86o.
From that time on rivalry continued between the respective sides.

It was in the year 1867 when the business men of the South extended
a general invitation to the business men Xorth, to meet them on their own
ground to confer and if possible unite the business interests of Nevada
in one locality. At that time I was engaged in a partnership with Capt.
T. C. McCall under the firm name and style of McCall & Thompson, the
former in the real estate, the latter in the law business.

On the evening designated, Capt. McCall represented our lirm in the
conference. The result of that meeting was nothing accomplished.

During the conference they offered a very inadequate and insignificant
amount of money to the North business men if they would move their
business over to the South side. Mr. McCall, being a man with a Summer
temperature, optimistic as to the advantages of the locality he represented,
and possessing a hair trigger disposition, listened with impatience to
the above mentioned offer, and his mental caliber becoming lieated. cx]iloded
and the conference was annihilated.

He was still in a fermented condition the next day, while he was nar-
rating what occurred at the conference. I said to him, "McCall, the way
to do a thing is to do it, now let us attend to our own business interests,
make our own business street, be united and get to work, ask no further
conference nor assistance from any person South of the slough. Let us
settle on Lynn Street in front of our office and begin at once to grade it.
Let us start a subscription and raise sufficient money to do the work and
do it now. 1 will write the subscription document and be the solicitor."
This presentation of a method pleased Capt. McCall, who quickly re-
sponded "All right, Frank, put me down for Twenty-live Dollars." I im-
mediately wrote the subscrijition pa])er, McCall heading the list with
Twenty-five Dollars. I ])ut down tlie same and started out, following
my own metlunl of soliciting and enjoined secrecy, asking none to aid
but those specially interested and willing to become tem|iorarilv deaf and
dumb.

In a very short time there was on my sul)scri|)tion jiajjcr $250. These
mutes by signs appointed me to superintend the work. There was
no delay in my accepting the appointment and I innnediately employed
men and teams and selected George \\ . llamijleton as foreman, who at
once set the men to work plowing and grading Lynn Street .\orth from
what is now Court Avenue for two blocks. While this work was being
done, the South side people laughed at us, but our |)low continued its
deeper work and the grading continued. To them it began to look more

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY (359

serious and the laughing ceased and a counter subscription started by
them for grading on Lynn Street North from the now Third Avenue
South. They raised only $125 and started the plow and grader.

Our work steadily and quietly continued, using up the $250, and then
an additional $130 was raised in the same manner and expended in com-
pleting the grading of these two blocks. The work on the South side in
the meantime had stopped

The lots in these two blocks facing Lynn Street were not divided into
business lots, but had been platted as residence lots, 60x140 feet. Now,
at this time it happened that McCall and I were the owners of several
residence lots on both sides of Lynn Street in these two blocks.

For centralizing business and having what would make more business
fronts than McCall's in these blocks, and as an inducement, I publicly an-
nounced that I would give a business front to any man who would place
a business building thereon. Shortly thereafter, I deeded a twenty foot
front to Mr. Wilcox free of charge, where is now White & Bamberger's
Hardware Store. Then, as our business center had to survive. I gave
to Uncle David Child a sixteen foot front for a meat shop, he being in
the "butcher business." It was placed where now stands the building
erected by Boardman Bros., for Cold Storage.

Capt. McCall, also, for a small moneyed consideration conveyed busi-
ness fronts to parties who would erect thereon business buildings. As is
remembered, he conveyed to T. Kindelspire and also to Otis Briggs.

The work done and these conveyances became the starter boosters for
centralizing our business on Lynn Street. We then needed better mail
facilities, the postofifice was "too far away," being South of the slough,
with E. D. Fenn, Postmaster. So I suggested to Capt. McCali that 1 had
a site to convey very cheap for a postofiice if we could persuade Mr. h^nn
to move over the postoffice and his clothing business. I would take $125
for it and would contribute $25 of the amount. He said he would give
$25 and thought that the balance of $75 could be raised for that pur-
pose, which was shortly done.

I then said to Mr. Fenn that I would deed to him a tv.-enty-five foot
front free, if he would come over with his postoffice and other business.
After considering the matter he accepted and I conveyed to him the twenty-
five foot front where now stands the South part of the brick store build-
ing of the Ringheims. He immediately erected there a two story frame
building and moved the postoffice over.

This movement practically took the heart out of the South-siders, and
one by one they moved over. Major James Hawthorn was about the last to
yield. He came over to see me about getting a place for his store busi-
ness anfl wanted to know what I would take for the twenty-five foot
front just North of the postoffice. I told him $325. He said, "Why,
you sold the same number of feet to Mr. Fenn for $125." ''Yes, but I
have quit giving away my lots." He finally gave me my price and eiected

360 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

thereon liis two stor}' frame building and moved in. Major ITawtliorn
had the largest general store on the South side.

We needed a hotel in our business center. The !arge>t hotel ;n the
town was on the South side. I sold my residence Lot 2, Block i6. abut-
ting Lynn Street to Major Hawthorn, he selling to a Mr. Waring, who
moved that hotel and placed it on the lot, enlarged the building, which
subsequently was then called the "Waring House," and lastly became
known as the "Hutchins House." Later, after being unoccupied for sev-
eral years, it was destroyed by fire July 15, 1909.

After moving the hotel, and the business street being fairly started,
it became evident that it was too narrow, being only seventy feet, so we
consulted the business men located on each side, as to the widening, and
it impressed them favorably. But which side should move back? It
was finally agreed that as the East side had more and larger buildings
than the West side, the latter side should move back twenty feet, they
donating respectively, the twenty feet to the town for street purposes,
and the East side paying the expenses of the moving. I wrote the sub-
scription to raise the money for the moving, also all the contracts for
the deeding of the land. The money was raised and all the contracts
were faithfully executed. The date of this widening can be ascertained
from the records of the conveyances then made.

We now had our business center located and the business gradually
moved northward on our street, only a few business places left South of
the slough, but those remaining retained an envious and retaliative spirit.

Through the "underground wireless," there was a dispatch, which
was read bv those on the alert. <it an eflfort to locate another business
point at or near the then depot on Blair's Addition to Nevada, a portion
of which had been originally platted as business lots.

I called the attention of our leading business men u> the dispatch
and suggested a method to check their purpose, by having the passenger
depot moved West to a point North on our business street ; that 1 would
write to the Superintendent of the Division and see if it could not be
done and on what terms. Shortly after I received a reply, statins; that
their freight depot was in the same building and they would not di\ide
the business; but they needed more ground than they then had, and
if we would give them the necessary ground for depot purposes and pay
them $1,500, deposit with their agent in Nevada $750 cash and a Bank's
Guarantee that the balance $750 would be paid 'when the depot building
was moved, they would move their building to the place indicated. I
called my coterie together and submitted the letter received. They said
the amount was too large and could not be raised, nor get the land neces-
sary. I had more faith and would try to get the money subscribed. My
partner, Mr. McCall, was then the agent for J. B. Stewart, who owned
the lots adjacent to the proposed site, and he was hopeful.

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 361

I immediately wrote the subscription with a preamble, fully stating
the object for which the money was to be expended. Xo one was to
know what was in the wind excepting those approached and no one was
to be asked but business men on our business street and those especially
interested in its improveiuent. I fully explained matters and gave reasons
for secrecy. I took the name, their business and location on the street
and amount subscribed. When I quit my efifort, I had every business
man's name on Lynn Street, North of the slough to the Railroad track,
and other prominent men living in Nevada who desired harmony and
were interested in centralizing business, with the full amount of $1,500
subscribed. Capt. jMcCall had not been idle, but had the promise of J. B.
Stewart to deed the necessary ground near the proposed site. I raised
the cash amount and had guaranteed the balance of the subscription by
Otis Briggs, the President of the Farmers Bank, and deposited the same
with O. B. Ingalls, Railroad Agent in Nevada, as required.

I then wrote the Superintendent of this division at Clinton, Iowa, that
we had accepted their proposition for the moving of their depot to Lynn
Street and had fully complied with the conditions and made the deposits
with their agent, O. B. Ingalls, as directed.

During my soliciting it was impossible to keep my doings unnoticed
and purpose from being known. It leaked out and a remonstrance was
started and circulated in the South district and forwarded to the division
Superintendent at Clinton, Iowa, before my report had been sent in. He
informed me, after receiving my report, of the remonstrance having been
forwarded to him. I called a meeting of my associates for consultation.
A committee of three was appointed, Otis Briggs, Banker, Wm. Lock-
ridge, Lumberman, and F. D. Thompson, Lawyer, to go to Clinton and
investigate the allegations in the remonstrance and the names of signers
were, with full power to act.

The next day we were at Clinton, met the Superintendent, and exam-
ined the remonstrance. It was numerously signed by Tom, Dick, and
Harry without designating locahty or business and many not living in
Nevada. The committee made me chairman. I took up our subscrip-
tion list and explained the extent of business and personal standing of
each subscriber, his location and the general surroundings of this busi-
ness street and its location when the depot is moved, with the Court
House at the South and the depot at the North end of this business street.
When I had finished, the superintendent saiil he could not determine the
matter himself, but would give us passes to Chicago to see the President
of the Company.

When we reached Chicago, we went to the president's headquarters
and introduced ourselves. He greeted us very formally and asked our
business. I then very briefly stated our object and some of the reasons
why we desired the moving of the depot from its present site to the head
of our business on Lynn Street. Either my manner, style of presenta-

362 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

tion or subject matter seemed to interest him, and he becaine less dis-
tant and approacliable. He said, "Gentlemen, take some chairs around
this table and 1 will hear you further." When we were all seated, Mr.
Briggs and Mr. Lockridge had found iheir tongues, but 1 should pro-
ceed further, showing the importance to us and the advantage to the
Company in the removal. 1 spread out our plat of the town, called at-
tention especially to Lynn Street, our portion of it, the widening of the
same and where the depot then was and where we desired it to be placed.
I then pointed out the places of business of each subscriber, the amount
of business done and the character of each man. Then took up the re-
monstrance and pointed out where each subscriber lived and his place of
business and why they remonstrated. Then referred to the Company's
proposal to mc in reply to my letter. That we had accepted their pro-
jxisal and had fully complied with all the terms and conditions. He said
there were some legal objections raised to the removal of the depot. 1
informed him that I was somewhat familiar with the location of the depot,
and that one of the conditions when Story County voleil its swamp lands to
the Cedar Rapids and Missouri Railroad Company, was that the road should
run through Nevada and locate its depot within one thousand yards
of the Court House. That I was satisfied there could not be any legal
objection sustained against the moving of the depot, for when moved it
would be nearer tlie Court House than before. He tlien said they needed
more ground than they had for the de])ot and that they would move the
depot if there were no legal objection. This closed our interview and all
of the committee were well |)leasetl with our treatment and results ob-
tained.

After our return from Chicago we patiently waited the formal decision
on our petition for the change of dejrat site. During this time the local
land agent here of the I'dair Town Lot and Land Company made objec-
tion to the change, that the Company had no right to move. We sent
down another committee of three with Capt. McCall as chairman to iTitcr-
view the Lot and Land Company at Cedar Rapids, Iowa. They returned,
reporting no success. Some considerable time had elapsed, hearing noth-
ing from the Railroad Company, and a few of the donors who had i)ai(l
in money for the moving of the depot became disheartened and wanted
their money back. 1 told them to delay a short time and I would write
a final letter to the Conijiany. 1 then wrote a letter to the Com[iany.
addressing the President, stating in substance our request for the moving
of the depot, and their projwsal that they would move the depot on
certain terms and conditions. That we had accepted and relied upon
their proposition and had complied with its terms, had raised the money
and deposited it. procured deeds for the necessary ground, with the honest
belief that the Company meant what they said and would do what they
proposed upon our compliance. That it was a business undertaking and
in good part entered into by them, that we had relied upon that good

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 363

faith and complied with all the conditions honestly, and that the Com-
pany was now morally and legally bound to move the depot. Now, if
the Company • did not move the depot within ten days from the date of
this letter I would withdraw the money and papers deposited and de-
clare the business off.

I then awaited the effect of my letter; day by day passed, but on the
ninth day the Company's men arrived and began moving the depot to its
proposed site.

Thus, from the foregoing, you see the first conditions, causes and
reasons why Lynn Street became the business street in Nevada and the
three methods and means used to make, maintain, anchor and make per-
manent that business center on Lynn Street.

During the fifty years that I have lived in Nevada, I have helped to
fight its various battles, worked for its general interest, its water works, its
library and its electric lighting, been many times on its Council and its
mayor, compiled its City Ordinances and seen it grow from a town to
an incorporated town and then to a City of the Second Class, and I
now consider Nevada City one of the best and prettiest cities of its size
in the State of Iowa.

F. D. Thompson.

CHAPTER XXXV.

POLITICS FOLLOWING THE WAR.

In local ]K)litics the events of the war. assisted perhaps by the in-
creasing inmiigration of the Norwegians, had had the etTect of confuniing
absolutely the republican control of the county, and whereas in 1859 when
the county was turned from Democratic to Rciniblican. the vote was
desperately close for all important places on the ticket, Republican vic-
tories in after years came with increasing ease, and by the close of the
war political interest had become centered in the Republican county con-
ventions. E.xceptions to the rule of the county by Rci)ublican county
conventions were in a very few cases successfully made, but the excep-
tions were very rare and so notable that each of them calls for a special
explanation. With the exceptions thus to be noted the convention rule
was absolute for more than thirty years or uiuil the convention of 1895
abdicated its power by directing that future nominations be made in a
county primary. From these circumstances it necessarily follows that
the political history of the county in the ensuing years is for the most part
a convention history.

CAMI'.MG.N" OK 1865.

The first of the county conventions which met for the purpose of
making history was that of 1865. It renominated the representative,
George M. Ma.xwell, but otherw'ise it made a new slate. Jutlge Evans
who from the begiiuiing of the county with the exception of a single
term had held the office of county judge, retired and w-as succeeded b\
R. H. Mitchell. T. J. Ross, who had won the treasury in 1859 by a
margin of ten votes, also retired and was succeeded by Thomas C. Davis.
The vacancy in the county clerkship for which Captain D. P. Ballard
had been unable to qualify by reason of being held in the army and
which had been temporarily filled by the appointment of John M. Brainard
was won by Joseph A. Fitchpatrick. Lucius Q. Hoggatt, of whom more
hereafter, had been sheriff through the war and he gave way for his
deputy, H. P. Murphey. Rev. J. G. Beckley was the nominee for county
superintendent, W. G. Allen for county surveyor, Chas. P. Robinson for
coroner, and Isaac T. Evans for the unimportant office of drainage com-
missioner. It was a strong ticket and several of the men named have

364

PUBLIC LIBKAKV, .NEVADA

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 365

left a strong impress upon county affairs. Alitchell held the judgeship until
the office was abolished. Fitchpatricks' continued prominence in affairs
is universally recognized. Alurphey died in 1886, before he could be
counted an old man or even elderly, and while he lived he was one of the
most active and useful citizens of Nevada. Beckley was slaughtered in
the bolt two years later and died some ten years afterward. W. G. Allen
lived to be quite an old man and tlie impression which many of the
younger generation have of him is of one considerably broken, but he
had been an active and very useful citizen, had been postmaster of Nevada
and chairman of the committee which started the campaign for the agri-
cultural college. In after years he made the first attempt at writing a
history of Story County. Robinson was a carpenter in Nevada and he
held the office of coroner for many years. Evans belonged to the well-
known family in the west side of the county. Davis is not so well re-
membered as some of the others, for he removed from the county too
soon, but he was genial and popular. Maxwell, who headed the ticket,
was one of the strongest men that the county has sent to the General
Assembly.

The election of such a ticket in such a county might naturally have
been expected without serious opposition, and in fact it did follow in
due time and by ample majorities, but the year was signalized by a very
peculiar political movement in the state which movement had its influence
in the county. This was the so-called "Soldiers' " movement, and its
ostensible purpose was to give about all the offices to the soldiers. The
war was over, the boys were home, honors of various sorts were thick
upon them, and they thought and many others thought that they were
entitled to much political preferment. But from the very fact that the
soldiers had been in the field they were not yet well in the political swim,
and nominations did not come to them readily. In the regular conven-
tion Fitchpatrick had indeed won the best county nomination and he was
a soldier in the fullest sense, having gone out at the beginning, served
until the close, and been seven months at xAndersonville. But he was
the only soldier to get a nomination on the regular ticket, although several
other well-known and sincerely honored soldiers had been candidates.
Similar results had attended Republican conventions elsewhere, a few
soldiers getting nominations but many more failing to get them. So
there arose disaffection among the soldiers who almost to a man had voted
for Lincoln the year before, and the Democratic organization which in
state and county alike was without hope hastened to get behind the move-
ment and push. So a soldiers' state convention was called at Des Moines
and similar conventions were called in the counties. The complexities
thus suggested were helped along by questions concerning the policies of
President Andrew Johnson, who had not yet broken with the Republican
party in congress and the nation and over whose course there were as
yet many Republican differences. Tlie program which developed was

Vol. 1—24

366 HISTORY OV STORY COUNTY

for ilu- 1 )cniocrats and soldiers to get together and supi)ort the adminis-
tration and in passing it may be observed that they did get together
sufficiently to land E. D. Fenn in the post office in Xevada.

But tlie consolidation of soldiers and Democrats did not work as well
as its promoters hoped. The state soldiers' convention was held at Des
Moines and was well attended, but as soon as it attempted to name a
ticket, a large minority of its members bolted, formed a sejiarate conven-
tion and endorsed the Republican nominees. In the county soldiers who
had failed of Republican nominations were prominent in the soldiers'
county convention, and for a time the movement thus inaugurated ap-
peared to be formidable, but in the ultimate the great body of soldiers
were Republicans and thought it unwise to encourage Republican differ-
ences while the problem of reconstruction was confronting the nation. So
gradually the soldiers' movement fizzled out and of the men who were
concerned in it, a few became Johnson Democrats, but the most of them
returned to full Republican fellowship. The fight, while it lasted how-
ever, was bitter and the term "possum" was popularly applied by the
regulars to the bolters.

C.VMP.MGN OF 1866.

The Re])ublican convention of 1866 settled the soldier question so far
as recognizing soldiers was concerned by giving the two nominations it
had to soldiers. J. A. Fitchpatrick was renominated for full term as clerk,
and Geo. F. Schoonover was nominated also by acclamniation for county
recorder. This ticket was very easily elected but Schoonover died three
months after taking office and ])olitical conditions arising in consequence
of his death had something to do with the troubles arising in the follow-
ing year. In this same year the first indications are afforded of active
interest in this county over a congressional nomination. Congressman .K.
W. Hubbard of Sioux City, father of the present congressman from that
locality, had been elected in 1862 and 1864 for the si.xth district, which
then comprised the northwest third of the state, and extended as far east
as Marshall and P.lackhawk counties. The rule of long terms for con-
gressmen had not yet been established and the eastern and more heavily
populated portion of the district was much disposed to retire Hubbard.
Story County was against Hubbard and gave its support to G. M. Wood-
bury of Marshall county. Judge Porter of Eldora was also a candidate
and Woodbury and Porter together had a majority over Hubbard in the
convention, which met at Webster City ; but their friends were imable
to agree and after protracted balloting Hubbard was renominated.

In the election which followed Hubbard was duly chosen for his third
and last term, but the election itself was attended with a trick which if
it had worked elsewhere as it worked in Story County would have ac-
complished his defeat. This trick was the circulation on the very eve

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 367

of the election of the definite announcement that Mr. Hubbard, who was
known to be in uncertain health, had suddenly died and the recommenda-
tion ostensibly of the chairman of the Republican congressional commit-
tee that the Republicans cast their votes for G. M. Woodbury of Marshall
County. The report found credit. Republicans became confused as to
their political duty under the circumstances and in fact the Republican
votes of the county was split very evenly between Hubbard and Wood-
bury. Investigation after the election indicated that the circulars making
the announcement of the recommendation had been printed in the Demo-
cratic newspaper office at Alarshalltown and it was the Republican belief
that the plot had had its origin with some of the most active Democrats
in this county. Very likely because soine of the local Democrats under-
stood the matter the trick was sitccessfully worked in this county, but
as to other counties there was an utter miscarriage of the plot and its
effects did not appear in the returns.

CAMPAIGN OF 1867.

The year 1867 seems to have afforded to the Republicans at least of
Story county more politics than they ever had at any other time gotten into
in a single year. But before plunging into the thick of the fight note should
be taken of a very high honor that came politically without solicitation
to the Republicans and other people of the county. This honor was
the nomination of Col. John Scott by the Republican state convention for
the office of Lieutenant Governor. Colonel Scott was not a candidate
for the nomination nor is it understood that his name in advance had
been connected therewith even by gossip. It fitted the conditions of the
convention that the nomination should come to some prominent Repub-
lican in central Iowa. Samuel Merrill of Clayton County had, after a
strenuous contest, been nominated for Governor, and a very strong element
in the Southern part of the state were hoping to start Judge Joseph M.
Beck on the career in the Supreme Court where he for twenty-four years
eminently distinguished himself. 'A good deal had in the passing years
as before noted been also said about nominating soldiers for office, and
in every respect Col. Scott fitted the requirements of the occasion. So
the sentiment of the hour was expressed on the floor of the convention
by Col. Lowry of Boone in a speech presenting the name of Col. Scott
and Col. Scott later stated that the man who prevented him from at once
declining the nomination was former Governor Lowe. The movement
spread rapidly and Scott was easily nominated. His election in Novem-
ber followed as a matter of course and he graced the chair of the Senate
in the following winter. The office to which he was thus elevated was
the highest to which any citizen of Story County has ever yet attained
by popular election, and as will later appear the local harmony which
made practicable the attainment of such honors by citizens of the county

368 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

was ended somewhat abruptly by the local political events of the ensuing
weeks.

The troubles of 1867 seem to liave begun with the death of George
F. Schoonover, three months after beginning his term as county re-
corder. Henry Hoynton had been ap(K)inted to the vacancy with some
suggestion that Mrs. Laura Berry should do the actual work of the office
and that the fees over and above her compensation should go to Mrs.
Schoonover. The facts of the matter are much obscured but the con-
troversy that arose was spirited. .Mr. Ik)ynton was a candidate for the
nomination for the unexpired term and the main issue in the election of
delegates to the county convention seems to have been the recordership.
Several candidates came forward and they all fouglit Hoynton. In the
end P.oynton was beaten in Nevada and elsewhere and did not appear as
a formidable candidate in the convention but the fight against Boynton
had given the control of the Nevada delegation to the side with which
Boynton did not generally affiliate. This side was also on the south side
of the slough in .X'evada, and its success in the Nevada caucus gave it
ascendency in tiic convention. From this ascendency several results
followed. One was that R. H. Mitchell, who had been elected county
judge two years before, was refused a renomination and in his stead
T. J. Ross, who had been county treasurer for si.x years following 1859,
was nominated. Incidentally Lycurgus Irwin, a brilliant and some-
what erratic young lawyer, who had not been long in the county but who
later won distinction as the original promoter of the Nevada public
library, was nominated for representative over J. L. Dana. .Also Rev.
Heckley, who was a brother-in-law of Ross, was renominated for super-
intendent against the ineffective opposition of the other crowd. H. F.
Murphey, who possessed in an especial degree the faculty of keeping out
of trouble, was re-nominated for sheriflf and did not become involved in
the troubles of election. The nomination for recorder whicTi had been
the beginning of the rumpus went to Samuel Rates of Howard township
and did not figure particularly in the further proceedings save that the
regulars resented his apparent sympathy with the bolters and refused
him a renomination the next year, although he was then reelected as an
independent. The nub of the fight was the county judgeship and the
I)oint of that was that the land business at that time was good. Ross
was in the land business with Scott, and other men in tlic land business
did not want that firm to have the advantage of an office in the court
house. Out of such a beginning came the subsequent disturbance. Some
personal misunderstandings of things said helped the matter along and
in a short time the disaffected faction was in the field with a bolting
ticket for county judge, representative and county superintendent. The
candidates were R. II. Mitchell for county judge, J. L. Dana for
representative, and F, D. Thompson for county superintendent. Dana
uufioubtedly wanted to be re])resentative l)ut Thompson had little use for

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 369

the superintendency and in fact did not serve out the term to which he
was elected, and there was no general issue which would have encouraged
Dana to be a candidate. Probably the fact was that the other two had
to run in order to support Mitchell, who really had some grounds for
complaint in not being fairly treated in the convention. So they plunged
into the fight. The Republican strength in the county was by this time
just about two to one over the Democrats, and with the Republicans split
in the middle and everybody mad, conditions were right for a very close
three cornered contest. On the eve of the election Thompson and his
business associate McCall, who together constituted a majority of the Re-
publican County committee, sent out an appeal to Republicans to sup-
port the bolting candidates as a means necessary to the defeat of the
Democrats. This was an argument which the regulars much resented
but it appears to have been warranted by the facts, for the returns put
the regular candidates in third place, Mitchell defeating Kellogg, Demo-
crat, for county judge by twenty-four votes, and Thompson being elected
over Bartlett, Democrat, by twenty-one, Dana failed to come in ahead
of his Democratic opponent and consequently Major Hawthorn was
elected a Democratic representative from this overwhelmingly Republican
county by a plurality of twenty-five. Scott, who as before noted was on
the ticket at the same time for Lieut. Governor, was scratched to a consid-
erable degree in his own county, and all the men who mixed in the
matter on opposite sides were suspicious or hostile toward each other
from that time on.

A further political incident of 1867 pertained to the senatorial con-
vention of that year. In those years there was a different senatorial
district at each senatorial election and it was not until 1871 that Story
and Boone counties were constituted a district by themselves and appar-
ently for keeps. In 1867, the district consisted of the counties of Boone,
Greene, Hamilton, and Story, and the Republican convention was held
at Boone. Boone had ten delegates. Story and Greene together 12, and
Hamilton 5. Just what were the hopes of the Story delegates before
they went to the convention is not reported ; but when they got there,
they found that Boone County was for I. J. Mitchell and that Judge
Chase, who was running the Hamilton delegation, intended to nominate
him, very likely for reasons connected with Chase's aspirations for con-
gressional honors later on. At any rate, the Story and Greene delegations,
being thus outside this combination, arranged to make what trouble
they could for the combination and accordingly without consul-
tation with the Hamilton delegation, cast their 12 votes for Col. G. W.
Crossley, a Story County soldier of the Third Iowa, and then as now a
prominent citizen of Webster City. The matter was as embarrassing for
Chase as had been hoped, and Chase amply confessed his embarrass-
ment in a speech of explanation ; but he stood by his deal and threw
the vote of Hamilton to Mitchell, who was accordingly nominated and

370 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

elected senator and seven years later was nominated and elected district
judge on another deal with Chase, who again did not get the congressional
nomination he was seeking.

CAMPAir.N OF I.S68.

The year 1868 was the one in which General Grant was first elected
president of the L'nited States and the Republican policy of reconstruc-
tion was sustained. Story County was in full sympathy with the can-
didate and the ])olicy, but it is hardly a matter of special note that the
county should have given its support to Republican candidates or prin-
ciples at any particular time after the war. The main local incident of
the year was the candidacy of Col. Scott for the congressional nomina-
tion in the old si.xth district. From the vantage point of his position in
the lieutenant-governorship he pushed his canvass effectively and he had
a powerful and well organized support through the greater part of the
district. But there were other men of local and general standing who
aspired to congresssional honors and the result was a much divided field.
Among the other candidates were Judge Chase of Webster Citv, Judge
Couch of Waterloo, and Charles I'omeroy of I""ort Dodge, but formerly
of Boone. The various county delegations were sharply contested and
the convention was held at Boone. When it met, Chase had a small
lead, Scott second with rather the more tenacious support, and Couch
and Pomeroy not so very far behind. The balloting was prDtracted and.
as is often the case, in such conventions, counties took to throwing around
their votes somewhat carelessly. In this proceeding, some one exclaimed
excitedly that a certain vote nominated Pomeroy, which it did not do,
but the chairman of the Blackhawk delegation was stampeded and
changed the vote of his county to Pomeroy who, in fact, was thus nomin-
ated. Pomeroy was a zealous Rei)ublican and eloquent orator, and he
had been a presidential elector in Lincoln's first campaign but one term
was all he could gel in congress (jn this sort of a start, and he was easily
retired two years later, and in the meantime Story County's excellent
time for a congressman had passed.

In county matters this year the situation cjuieted down to some de-
gree. J. A. Fitchpatrick was renominated for clerk without difficulty
and was re-elected as he continued to Ix for several terms. The other
place on the county ticket was that of county-recorder. Bates' elec-
tion for the previous year having been for tlie vacancy only. There was
not so much fuss alxiut the matter as in the |)revious year but the con-
vention was controlled by the regidars and they as Ixjfore noted refused
Bates a renomination, |)utting on the ticket in his place Torkel Henrj--
son of Story City. This action is notable as the first nomination of a
Norwegian, by the Republicans of the county, for a county office. The
Norwegians had been a growing force in the county for ten years and

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 371

back in 1859, their vote though small, had undoubtedly determined the
political complexion of the county. In succeeding years, however, their
vote though larger, had not been so badly needed and had therefore com-
manded less attention. Undoubtedly it is further true that their vote
did not increase as rapidly as did their settlement. The first Norwegian
settlers in the county in the latter 'sos, had come from Illinois and were
for the most part already citizens ; but later on the immigration came
more directly from Norway and the newer arrivals had to wait the
process of naturalization before counting in politics. In spite, however,
of such delays, the Norwegian power and influence were becoming more
appreciable and the nomination of Henryson was clearly dictated by good
politics. Mr. Henryson was then — and is yet — one of the most represen-
tative citizens of his portion of the county, and he would have filled well
the recordership as his son, thirty years later, did the treasurership. But
the politics of the previous year had not yet settled down and the people
of the county were not yet habituated in the matter of voting for Nor-
wegians for office. Bates bolted and ran independent and he was sup-
ported by a combination of Democrats, bolters of the previous year and
probably others who regarded with disfavor the nomination of a Nor-
vi^egian. The combination was efifective and Henryson was beaten. But
it is to be said of him that he took his defeat in good part and the
matter was not made the occasion of further political wars.

CHAPTER XXXVI.
POLITICS FOLLOWING THE WAR— (CONTINUED).

CAMP.MGN OF 1869.

The year 1869 was more of an off year in county politics than there
had been for some time. The (hvisions at the county seat continued, but
the outside of the county became more assertive, and the outside spirit
was manifested in the nomination for representative of W. K. Wood
of Iowa Center. He had been one of the earhest settlers of the county,
had always been universally esteemed and was indifferent as to whether
business in Nevada should be done chiefly on the north side or the south
side of the slough. In the Republican County convention the nominees
were W. K. Wood for representative. E. G. Day for treasurer, C. P.
McCord for auditor, R. S. Osborn for sheriff, John R. Hays for super-
intendent, C. P. Robinson for coroner, Mr. Griffin for drainage commis-
sioner and M. C. Allen for county surveyor. Of these nominees the
first and last are still prominent citizens of the county ; John R. Hays
is one of the leading men of Nebraska and resides at Norfolk in that
state; Osborn was beaten in the election but went to Kansas where he
become auditor of state ; Griffin we never heard of ; but Day. NfcCord
and Robin.son were men long i)rominent in the county and in the course
of years went the way of all that is mortal. But together they were a
forceful bunch, and they won the nominations in a convention the pro-
ceedings of which indicate that there was a fight.

The main issue of the fight appears to have been to clean out the
bolters of two years before. The bolting faction was still strong in the
county seat and it was in control of the Nevada delegation in convention ;
but the opposite faction from Nevada and the people on the outside who
were tired of the fuss got together and dominated the convention. We
have a suspicion that E. G. Day had his identification with the bolters ;
but he never was aggressive on that side and he got his nomination by
a margin of one vote over W. D. Lucas of .'\mes. But Dana was de-
feated for representative and Mitchell for auditor, in each ca.se the nomin-
ation going to the country, which up to that time had not been in the
habit of taking nominations to any considerable e.xtcnt. Why Oslwrn
was nominated over Murphey is not so clear ; hut it may be that he had

.•572

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 373

a bunch of delegates that were needed in the outside combination. At
any rate Osborn was nominated; but he was immediately voted as being
no good, and the Democrats were given the hint that if they would
nominate an old soldier for sheriff they might get one office. They
nominated Alf Goodin, who had served through the war, and part of the
time in Andersonville, and he beat Osborn by a big majority, it being a
fact worthy of renewed mention that Goodin thus became the only Dem-
ocrat to be elected to office in this county on a straight Democratic nom-
ination since 1858.

The convention was called to order by T. J. Ross, and its chairman
was Robert Marshall of Washington township. V. A. Ballou was secre-
tary. It was not one of the famous conventions of Story county Re-
publicanism; but it evidently knew what it wanted, and by sitting down
hard on the bolters it probably made its contribution toward the factional
feud which lasted in the county for twenty years. Explanatory of the
candidacy of R. H. Mitchell for renomination for auditor, it should be
said that the general assembly of 1868 had abolished the office of county
judge, but had created the office of county auditor, and instead of legis-
lating the county judges out of office, it had provided that for the re-
mainder of their terms they should discharge the duties of the new
position. The glories of the county judgeship had been much dimmed
several years before by the creation of boards of supervisors ; and the
further change which made the county judge clerk of the board and
gave him a suitable title was readily accepted by all.

SOME FURTHER POLITICS.

In the Republican convention of 1870 Fitchpatrick was renominated
for clerk, and Sam Bates again secured a regular nomination for re-
corder. Both candidates had opposition but not enough to bother them
greatly. It was in this year that supervisors were first elected by the
county as a whole, the boards up to this time having consisted of one
member for each township. This convention therefore had three super-
visors to nominate, and after some balloting the honors fell to W. R.
Woodward, J. W. Maxwell and A. J. Graves, their strongest competitor
being John Evanson.

There was in this year also a notable contest in the sixth district
congressional convention. Chase and Scott, who had been the principal .
candidates in the convention at Boone two years before, but who had
been beaten by Pomeroy, received a few votes but were not candidates.
Judge Couch of Waterloo, however, was again pushed by his friends,
while yet more active candidates were Judge Ford of Sioux City and
Jackson Orr of Boone. Pomeroy started in as the leading candidate
but was not able to hold his lead and on the fourteenth ballot Orr was
nominated. Orr had lived at Fort Dodge and Jefferson and at this time

374 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

was a merchant at Hoone. He seems to have had tlie faculty of moving
around and getting office where he liappened to be. Some years later
he went to Colorado and figured out there in politics as a Populist.
There may have been some reasonable excuse for the sixth district send-
ing him to Congress, but we do not know what it was. In the judicial
convention of this year, Judge Chase of Webster City and District At-
torney Bradley of Marshalltown, were U^th renominated. In the elec-
tion of this year the political troubles of previous years were not acute,
and the whole ticket was elected without especial interest being aroused

The campaign of 1871 is notable chiefly for the beginning of con-
troversy between Story and Boone counties over the senatorsiiip, but
there were other i)i>litical matters that were speedily disposed of. For
representative the Republican convention of that year renominated W. K.
Wood on the second ballot, although there was a strong support for L.
Q- Hoggatt, and J. L. Dana was also voted for on the first ballot, the
most of his votes going to Wtwd. I'or treasurer. E. G. Day was re-
nominated against the (livide<l opposition; and for auditor John R. Hays
who had been deputy unijcr McConl. received his first nomination; thus
starting on a term of service whicli continued for ten years. The Re-
publicans having lost the sheriff two years before were cautious about
tlieir nomination and returned to 11. !•'. Murphey. who had demonstrated
his ability to be elected whenever he was nominated. For superintendent
the nominee was B. Bisbee who for thirty years was notable as one of
the two men from I-Vanklin townshi]) who actually got Republican nom-
inations for county offices, and both of wliom were beaten in the elec-
tion. For supervisor there seems to have been an agreement to concede
something to the Norwegians, but some difficulty in agreeing on the man.
On the third ballot tiierc was a tie. thirty votes apiece, between John
Evan.son and .Abel Olson, both of Roland, but on the fourth ballot Evan-
son was nominated. W. G. Alien was nominated for surveyor and the
convention forgot to name anyone for coroner. The same forgetful-
ness extended to the opposition, but in the election. C. P. Robinson was
re-elected by a few scattering votes in Nevada.

But as before noted the real question of tlic year was the senator-
ship. This was the first senatorial election in which Story and Boone
counties constitutetl the senatorial district. The outgoing senator was
I. j. Mitchell of Boone, but ten and a dozen years before. Storv had
had Scott and also Totter to fill out Scott's term. M all other times
since the settlement of the counties they had been represented by senators
not residents of either county. In this situation Story set up the claim
that a Boone senator was going out and it was Story Countv's turn.
Boone on the other hand argued that the two counties so far had had
equal representation, and that the senatorsiiip now on a new proposition
should go to the larger of the two counties. On the basis of the votes
of the last election the chairmen of the respective Republicans county

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 375

committees agreed on a call for a district convention in which Boone
County was accorded thirteen votes and Story ten. If Boone therefore
should insist it could take the nomination, but the disposition in Story
was to insist strongly on the other side. So the Story convention upon
a ballot gave G. M. Maxwell forty six votes and T. J. Ross thirteen and
thereupon named a solid delegation in the interest of Maxwell. Boone
at the same time with perhaps equal apparent unanimity but with not so
strong backing among the people gave its endorsement and delegation
to A. J. Holmes. Holmes was a young lawyer, who in later years was
representative from Boone County, and for three terms a member of
Congress, but at this time his reputation was not established and Story
County knew very little about him. Maxwell on the other hand had
served two terms as representative, was a campaigner of undoubteil force
and was the natural choice of the county for the position. So the two
delegations came together at Ames with an idea on the Boone side that
Boone could afford to take the nomination and with the idea on the Story
side that such action was not to be submitted to. So the two delegations
had a conference in advance of the convention. Story wanted to know
what Boone proposed to do about it ; Boone said it proposed to take the
nomination. So Story absented itself and Boone proceeded to organ-
ize a convention. The committee on credentials reported thirteen dele-
gates from Boone and no credentials from Story. Boone sent a com-
mittee to invite the Story delegation to come in and the delegation not
(.oniing. a motion was adopted authorizing Story County citizens present
to cast the vote of the county. In the meantime the Story delegation
had organized in Dan McCarthy's office, and Dan McCarthy appeared in
the Boone convention and asked time for Story to present a proposition.
Time was most cheerfully granted and later T. E. Alderman presented
the proposition which was that the candidacies of Messrs. Ma.xwell and
Holmes be referred to a primary of the two counties. The Boone chair-
man advised Mr. Alderman that such reference was without the jurisdic-
tion of the convention — which advice was manifestly unsound — and Mr.
Alderman withdrew. This closed the negotiations. In the Boone con-
vention, the Boone delegation cast thirteen votes for A. J. Holmes, and
somebody cast ten votes for J. Patton. Holmes was declared the nominee,
whereupon the Story delegation in McCarthy's office nominated Max-
well. In the later discussion Maxwell asserted that if Boone objected
to him personally he had proposed to withdraw and Boone might select
another Story County man, but he was advised there was no per-
ional objection to himself. In the subsequent campaign the senatorship
was about the only matter that received attention. The Democrats did
not attempt to run a candidate between the two Republicans but re-
frained from making a nomination. Generally they appear to have sup-
ported Maxwell, and in Story county, W. H. Gallup as chairman of the
Republican county committee, and Alajor Hawthorn as chairman of

376 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

the Democratic county committee arranged for a joint discussion between
the two candidates. Just how many such discussions were actually held
we do not know but there were some and Maxwell was built for that
sort of politics while Holmes was not. So Ma.xwell had all the advan-
tage of the game, and in the returns he had 1,067 majority in Story
County while Holmes was able to get only about 650 majority in Boone.
Holmes had a small vote in Story County from Republicans who were
anxious to be regular, but there was little heartiness in their support, and
the county was about as unanimous for Maxwell as it ever was for any-
one. For county superintendent Bisbee was defeated by Jerry H. Franks
who thus entered upon a quite notable career in Story County politics,
but otherwise a straight Republican ticket was elected.

The politics of 1872 appears to have been singularly devoid of ex-
citement. At the early convention to choose delegates to the state con-
vention which was to elect delegates to the national convention,
the Grant administration was endorsed and President A. S. Welch was
complimented with the chairmanship of the state delegation. The latter
incident reminds that President Beardshear was similarly complimenteJ
in the county in 1898— and President Storms in 1904. President Welch
was unquestionably a man to meet with tactfulness the responsibilities
of such position, and President Beardshear also entered with spirit and
evident appreciation into the rather lively proceedings of the Dubuque
convention of 1898; but President Storms was differently constituted and
he stayed away from the state convention.

In the later conventions of the same year, Fitchpatrick for clerk and
Bates for recorder, secured their usual renominations, — the latter without
open opposition. And j. W. Maxwell, who had drawn the short term
at the organization of the board of supervisors was renominated. The
second convention also took an expression of congressional preference.
The candidacy of Congressman Orr for renomination was regarded with
evident indifTercnce and former Congressman Pomeroy was regarded as
at least a tentative candidate in opposition. So the convention after some
deliberation concluded that the proper thing wa- to present a candidate
of its own and it accordingly gave its endorsement to Col. Scott. The
endorsement however was without effect, for the opposition to Orr in
the district failed to get together and he was renominated by acclama-
tion in a convention which was held at Storm Lake and as to which
the leading comment at the time was one of wonder why the convention
was called for a place where there were only 200 people and a body of
water that the assembled delegates could not conveniently use. The cir-
cuit judges who four years Ijefore liad been provided for, two for each
judicial district, had had their offices consolidated to one for each judicial
district and had their salaries increased to correspond with that of dis-
trict judge. Judge Hudson of Boone, who for the term had been the
judge for the southern circuit of the Flcvcnth district, appears to have

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 377

dropped out of sight, and the nomination was given to District Attorney
Bradley of Marshalltovvn. Bradley's promotion made a vacancy in the
district attorneyship which in a later convention was filled by the nomina-
tion of M. D. O'Connell of Fort Dodge, whose later career has been
notable and who has only recently retired after many years' service as
solicitor of the treasury at Washington. In the ensuing election, all of
the Republican nominees were re-elected as a matter of course, excepting
that J. W. Maxwell had a very close run for supervisor. This year is
further and perhaps chiefly notable for the first serious consideration of
the primary plan for making county nominations. In the previous year'.-:
convention, a motion had been carried with little attention endorsing the
primary plan. And the first convention of 1872, to elect state delegates
to choose national delegates, was apparently obsessed with the idea that
the plan must be gotten rid of. So that convention referred the matter
to the latter convention, to choose state, congressional and judicial dele-
gates, and that convention voted the matter down and left the nominations
of the year to be made in a third convention in the usual manner, in which
manner they continued to be made for more than twenty years.

POLITICS OF 1873.

The year 1873 was one of political upheaval. The Liberal Republi-
can campaign against Grant in 1872 had fizzled because the rank and file
of the Democrats would not accept Greeley as their national leader; but
in the following year the forces of unrest found more effective expres-
sion. The first manifestation was in a Republican convention held to
elect delegates to a state convention. The attendance was very slim but
a resolution was adopted denouncing the "salary grab" in congress. This
denunciation was for the benefit of Congressman Orr, who had secured
renomination the year before from a reluctant constituency and who had
celebrated his success by voting for the famous $5,000 back pay proposi-
tion and promptly appropriating the money. The second Republican
convention after some desultory balloting, nominated A. W. Stewart,
then of Ames, for representative, renominated John R. Hays for auditor
by acclamation and E. G. Day for treasurer by a close vote over S. R.
Corneliussen. Sam Zenor, who in after years and following repeated
trials, was actually elected sherifif of Boone county, was the nominee for
sherifif. M. C. Stephens was named for superintendent ; R. H. Mitchell
for surveyor, and C. P. Robinson as usual for coroner. Ma.xwell's close
call of the preceding year had resulted in a vacancy in the supervi'sorship
and he was renominated for the long term ; the vacancy going to Jacob
Mason of Grant Township, who was long one of the wheel horses of
Republicanism in the county. The opposition of this year took the form
of a new anti-monopoly party, in the organization of which Democrats
and disaffected Republicans coalesced with much enthusiasm, altiiough

378 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

with very little singleness of purpose other than to "bust the ring." The
point of agreement further was for the regulation of transportation rates,
in favor of which tlie Rei)ublican convention also resolved when the
time came and the struggle became one for precedence in the matter of
'"doing" the railroads. The economic result was a series of laws in
this and other states that were known as "granger legislation" much of
which was overthrown in the courts and the rest of which was after-
wards materially modified but all of which constituted the beginning of
the present system of regulating tran.sportation. In the county this new
organization held an enthusiastic convention in which many candidates
were voted for but the successful ones were accorded the united sup-
port of all. L. Q. Hoggatt was nominated for representative. Sam S.
Statler for treasurer and Charles Christian for sheriff. Xo candidate
was named in opposition to John R. Hays for auditor, which circum-
stance later proved very fortunate for Hays, and similarly as to C. P.
Robinson for coroner. R. 11. .Mitchell was al.so endorsed for county
surveyor, but he appears not to have cared to run on two tickets witili
the result that another candidate was put up and came within ten votes
of beating him. jerrv I'ranks, who had been elected as an opposition
candidate for superintendent two years before, was renominated ; and
Walter Evans and M. C. Carr were named for supervisors. The sub-
sequent camjiaign was exceedingly lively. Joint discussions were ar-
ranged by Dan .McCord as chairman of tiie anti-monops and J. A. Fitch-
patrick as the chairman for the Republicans, the discussions being be-
tween "L. Q. Hoggatt and others." In other w^ards, Hoggatt. who was
the spokesman for the opposition and well qualified for the jiart, was
combatting any Republican wIid would ^land u]) against him. Of course
the Re])ul)lican candidate who should have met Hoggatt was Stewart,
the Republican candidate for representative, but Stewart was not equal
to the situation ; and the situation l>ecame so unsatisfactory to tlie Re-
publicans that on the eve of the election there was a spontaneous move-
ment for Col. Scott as an independent candidate for representative.

So the Republicans went into the election utterly demoralized, the
demoralization in the county being typical of that in the state. The>
carried the state and county for the state ticket but the house of repre-
sentatives was equally divided, and all they elected in the county was the
surveyor by ten votes and the auditor and coroner to whom tiiere was
no opposition. The general troubles had been intensified by the per-
sistent snubbing of Norwegian candidates and the resulting resentment
had been made effective in Charles Christian's nomination by the anti-
monops for sheriff ; so locally the opjwsition practically swept the board.
The nearest to an exception of consequence was in the matter of repre-

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 379

sentative as to which Scott gave Hoggatt a real chase, but enough Re-
pubhcans stayed by Stewart, the regular nominee, to let Hoggatt in.

L. Q. HOGGATT.

At this point it seems desirable to make some further notice of Col.
L. O. Hoggatt, who headed the successful anti-monopoly movement in
the county, in 1873, and enjoyed personally the highest honor which the
county had to give at that time. Col. Hoggatt was an Indiana man,
had been in the Mexican war and had served in the Indiana legislature.
Coming to Iowa, he located on the East side of Squaw Creek and his farm
has since become an important part of the city of Ames. He was elected
sherifif in 1861 and 1863 and thus held this highly important office nearly
through the entire period of the war. After his retirement from office
he continued to be active in Republican politics until his break with the
Republicans in the anti-monopoly movement. After this break, however,
he remained unreconciled, and his attitude was generally that of a Green-
backer or Populist. In the years before the opposition had quite given
up the idea of making a light for at least some of its candidates for a
county office, he was always prominent in the county conventions of the
opposition, which was usually a fusion of some sort. After hope had been
given up he used to come over to Nevada periodically to attend Populist
conventions and these conventions were about the only occasions on which
he did come over. In county matters he was a persistent fighter for the
Ames side of the controversy, whatever it was. He was prominent in
the campaign for the location of the Iowa and Minnesota railroad, and
he was a fighter against the new courthouse at Nevada. When he was
beaten, however, he had the grace to acknowledge his defeat; and it is to
be recorded that he came over to Nevada and made a speech at the dedi-
cation of the court house. The hour of his triumph, however, was when
he was elected to the 15th general assembly. Tlie House was equally
divided between Republicans and antimonops and in the turbulent scenes
of that session he was well fitted to bear a part. One of the prominent
issues of the time was the investigation of the business conduct of the
Iowa Agricultural College and he had a resolution to order an investiga-
tion. But, when John H. Gear was finally elected speaker, he immediately
recognized some Republican member to ofifer a resoluton of investigation.
It was no fault of Hoggatt's, however, that his resoluton was not the one
considered. In 1878, when the Greenback movement was at its height, he
was the candidate of the fusion of Democrats and Greenbackers in the
Ninth district for congress. Col. Hoggatt had a quite famous buckboard
that he drove with one horse around the district, stopping at each town
to explain the dangers of resumption. His opponent was Gov. Carpenter
and as the district was Republican, Carpenter was elected; but Hoggatt
was the only Story County man who actually got a nomination for con-

380 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

gress and he made the situation interesting while the cantHdacy lasted.
About the beginning of the war he lost a leg in a threshing machine and
later he had a cork substitute. It was a diversion of his at one of his
numerous debates, while the other fellow was talking, to sit and drive
pins into his cork leg — which performance was somewhat startling to some
who might otherwise be taking in dangerous argiunents. Moggatt was one
of the marked men of the county and he was a factor in its history for a
long time.

POLITICS SICTTLI.NT, DOW.N.

The years 1874 and 1875 witnessed the wearing off of the e.xcitement
occasioned by the upheaval of 1873. In the Republican nominating con-
vention of 1874, the practice of snubbing the -Xorwegians was abruptly
discontinued. I'^itchpatrick w'as again nominated for clerk, but Samuel
Bates was finally retired from the recordership through the nomination
of Ole K. Hill. The vote on the first ballot for recorder was 24 for
Bates, 28 for Hill and 6 for H. II. Boyes, who later on, was Hill's suc-
cessor in office. Hill's nomination is notable as the first one of a Nor-
wegian for one of the principal county offices, excepting that of Torkel
Henryson for the same office six years before. Tlie Republicans of the
county ill the meanwhile, however, had learned something. Hill's nom-
ination was accepted in good faith and he was elected by a good mijoriiy.

.At the same time John ICvanson of Roland, another representative Nor-
wegian, was renominated for supervisor and S. I. Shearer was nominated
for a vacancy on the board. M. C. Carr. who was already filling the
vacancy, failed of renomination in the Republican convention, but was
nominated in the antimonojioly convention. Other anlimonopoly nominees
were James Ross for clerk and James Sloan for recorder. Evanson was
indorsed by the antimonops and was elected almost unanimously. In the
congresssional contest of this year the fight was not quite so spirited as
it had been. Congressman Orr was generally repudiated and his own
county of Boone elected a delegation against him. The eastern side of the
district generally supported Judge Chase; but wdien the convention met
dt Fort Dodge. Judge .-\ddison Oliver, of Onawa, had a majority of dele-
gates, the situation was recognized and Oliver was nominated by acclama-
tion. Judge Chase, in seeking this nomination for congress, had relin-
quished his claim on the district judgeship and the judicial convention at
Marshalltown on the fifteeenth ballot nominated I. J. Mitchell of Boone,
M. D. O'Connell was renominated for district attorney. The ensuing
election was a lanrlslide in the country towards Democracy, but in Story
County there was a return to regidar Republicanism and the local ticket
was easily elected. For this return of politics to its usual channel, not
a little credit was due to the nomination of Ole K. Hill. Mr. Hill was
a man of fine ability and admirable character. He was warmly backed by
the Norwegian element in the county and he won from the American

\IK\V OF LYNN STKIJCr LUOKIXG NORTH, NEVADA

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 381

population a hearty acceptance of his candidacy. While he was still in
office he made a trip over to Norway and upon his return was accompanied
by a considerable colony of fresh emigrants. His death within a few
years after his retirement from office was a real loss to the county.

It is quite possible that the placidity of the local political campaign of
1874, was facilitated by the fact that the people had something else to
think about. At the September session of the board of supervisors, by
die votes of Supervisors, M. C. Carr and John Evanson against that of
Walter Evans, passed a resolution submitting to the voters of the county
the question of issuing $40,000 of ten per cent bonds for the erection of a
new court house at Nevada, the supervisors supporting the proposition
accompanied the same with a published statement and financial state-
ments of one sort or another were the ruling feature in the local papers
for the ne.xt few weeks. There was the hottest sort of a fight for and
against the court house and, insomuch as the vote was the most important
of any single vote ever taken in the county, its detailed results are worth
setting down here by townships, as follows :

For Against

Collins 69 28

Franklin 16 109

Grant 60 33

Howard 25 55

Indian Creek 125 27

Lafayette 2 58

Lincoln 7 21

Milford 57 31

Nevada 365

New Albany 107 21

Palestine 6 83

Richland 71 9

Sherman 14 n

Union 81 80

Warren 7

Washington 7 393

Total 1019 959

In this vote there will be noted very much of a sectional division. The
court house was carried in all of the townships east of Skunk River, including
Union, excepting Howard and Lincoln ; and it was defeated, heavily, in all
townships west of Skunk River, as well as in Howard and Lincoln. Much
the closest township in the county was Union, which is divided by Skunk
River. But the net majority of 60 for the court house was decisive. Its
conclusions were resisted for a time, but were later accepted, the court house

Vol. 1—25

382 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

was built and a structure secured of which the county has ever since been
proud.

The campaign of i<^75, witnessed some renewal of the controversies of
1873; but the Republican ticket was again successful. In the Republican
convention, Milton Evans, of .'\mes, was, after some balloting, nominated as
a (lark horse for representative. Hays was again nominated for auditor
without opposition, and J. A. King, who w-as then bookkeeper for Baldwin
& Maxwell at Iowa Center, and who has ever since been a prominent figure
in the county, was nominated for county treasurer. J. F. Gillespie, also a
man of mark in the county to the present time, was after protracted balloting
nominated for sherifT over J. K. .McDonald and \V. II. Stephens. C. H.
Balliet was nominated for superintendent, his principal opponent being Miss
Emma Chanibcrlin. of .Ames. S. I. Shearer was renominated for super-
visor and George Giddings was named for surveyor. In this same conven-
tion. \V. H. Gallup, editor of the Representative, was indorsed for state
senator. The heavy vote on the court house the year before had resulted in
giving Story a preponderance over BcKine in the number of delegates in the
senatorial convention, and Story proceeded to imitate the example of I'.oone
four years before in dictating the nominee. In choosing the candidate,
however, there was some regard for the feelings of Boone and Mr. Gallup
probably owed not a little to the fact that in the Holmes-Ma.xwell hght he
had supported Holmes, the regular nominee. In the election the only
fights were on treasurer and superintendent ; but Balliet ousted Jerry Franks
from the superintendency by a majority of 83, and King ousted Statler
from the treasury by a majority of 6. Thus the full Republican ticket
was elected and the sweeping victory of 1874 was confirmed. The abso-
lute Republican dominance in the county dates from these two elections ;
for from 1874 down to the present time every Republican nominee upon
a county ticket in this county has been elected.

CHAPTER XXXVII.

VARIOUS MATTERS AFTER THE WAR.

In the decade following the war, there were a number of other matters
probably of less importance than some we have been discussing, that, never-
theless, should be here noted. One of these matters which never amounted
to anything but which occupied no little attention, relates to

SOME PROJECTED R.MLROADS.

The discussion of this matter pertains chiefly to Xevada, for the reason,
heretofore set out, that the first cross railroad that was seriously considered
was located at Ames ; and while this railroad like many others remained for
several years in the projected class, it was ultimately built, and the strong
confidence on the west side of the county that the road already promised
there would, in time, become a reality deterred the people in and about
Ames from chasing notably after other still more elusive enterprises. Not
so with Nevada. Nevada had the Northwestern, as had Ames ; and Nevada
saw Ames in the way of getting a cross road and Nevada was ready to con-
sider with much interest such other propositions as came along.

The most persistent of such enterprises was the Eldora, Nevada and
Des Moines railroad. There was a whole lot of talk about this along in
1868 and 1869, and in May, 1868, the matter had progressed far enough so
that a five per sent tax was voted in aid of this road with 221 votes for and
48 against. A preliminary survey was made and it appears that between
Eldora and Nevada there were to be si.xteen miles of road in Story County.
two and three-fourths in Marshall County and thirteen and one-fourth in
Hardin County, the estimated cost being about $90,000. Judge Porter was
an active promoter of this road, as he has been of many other paper roads
in a half century along this route, and T. J. Ross and T. C. McCall were one
committee that made a trip to Eldora in the interest of this project. P.ut
the proposition never got Ijeyond the matter of talk and taxes, as was the
case with an electric road that some forty years later was planned over the
same route and with the difference that it was called the Des Moines, Ne-
vada and Eldora railroad instead of the Eldora, Nevada and Des Moines.
The proposition always looked well and it could be worked up to a certain
stage, but capital to build the road was never forthcoming.

383

384 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

This project being abandoned, we find mention, in 187 1, of the Milwau-
kee and Nashua, which was projected by way of Xashua, Parkersburg, El-
dora, Nevada, .\iiies and "the old Iowa and Minnesota grading to Des
Moines." Also there was some suggestion of the north and south ends of
this same line with the intermediate section by way of Ames, Iowa Falls
and Ackley. This suggestion carries some significance as to the discouraged
state of the Narrow Gauge project between Des Moines and Ames and il-
lustrates that when once an actual beginning is made anywhere by turning
dirt for a railroad, the grade so made will remain and there will, from time
to time, be people who will try to use it. But this particular scheme for
making a Milwaukee connection in this territory did not get very far, and
it soon dropped out of sight.

The next project was more promising and along an entirely different
route. And it was known as the Iowa and Minnesota and Northern Pacific.
It was to branch off from the Des Moines \'alley railroad, now a division of
the Rock Island, at Monroe, and was to be built through Newton. Nevada,
up through the northern part of the state and continued through Minnesota
as should be practicable. This road was better worked up and came nearer
to being a success than did any other railroad prospect that was ever run
through this territory. The leading local promoter of this road was Major
James Ilawlhorn, who was experienced in such ])romotion and went into
this matter wholeheartedly. He had been one of the local representatives
at the Cedar Rapids railroad convention in 1839 and had been a director of
Cedar Rapids & Missouri River railroad. His successful relation to that
enterprise gave him courage for undertaking another and gave the people
confidence in him and his efforts. He was vice president of this road also
and he raised money for surveys and preliminary expenses and canvassed
for the voting of taxes. Tlie enterprise became locally active in the summer
of 187 1 and for a year or two it was pushed with great activity. Taxes were
voted by the townships crossed in Jasper and Story counties and then up
into Hamilton and nmre northern counties. Webster City and Eagle Grove
were on the route and, further north, the route of the ]ircsent Northwestern
line seems to have been substantially followed up through Algona to Dluc
Earth City. In addition to the townshi]) taxes voted along the line Jasper
voted its swamp lands to the enterprise and Hamilton half of its swamp
lands, the other half having presumably been voted to the Dubuque and
Sioux City line. Major Hawthorn rcturnid frmn one northern tri|) witli
the report that he had the townships worked up along tiie route in the
counties up to Kossuth; and after another trij), about the Fourth of July,
1872, Kossuth had responded also. The paper at Blue Eartli City, Minn.,
reported his arrival there and the favorable consideration of the enterprise.
Some litigation arose over the tax voted in Newton and there was conse-
quent consideration of an alternative route u]) through Colfax and Wash-
ington township of Polk County to Nevada and thence northward. But
this matter was fixed u\>. somehow, and the Newton route adhered to.

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 385

Ground was broken in Jasper County at a big barbeque and the road was
definitely located to Nevada. Everything was proceeding favorably and
the eastern capital necessary to the further financing of the project was
definitely arranged for. But delays occurred and two things happenefl.
Tbe financial situation in New York became uncertain and the prospect for
legislation, in Iowa, adverse to railroads, became threatening. It is difficult
now to get the whole truth of the matter, but the fact is that the subject was
put off until the panic following Jay Cooke's failure in 1873 occurred and
the Iowa Granger of 1874 was passed. Then the subject was dropped. The
Keokuk Gate City in March of the latter year observed that 22 townships
between the Des Moines river and the state line had voted subsidies which
were still available in the amount of $1,123,133; also 7,200 acres of swamp
land in Jasper county. Grading had been finished from Monroe to Newton
and the road was to be had on favorable terms. Powerful corporations
were reported to be looking at it — but they never bought. No more rail-
roads were built in Iowa until the financial situation eased and the Granger
legislation was softened. The grade between Monroe and Newton was
ultimately utilized but nothing else came of a very promising project. In
after years for a very long time it was almost a periodical matter for some
individual or party to come up from Newton, and a meeting of business
men would be hastily convened in some Nevada office to talk about a rail-
road from Newton. We think that visits of this order continued until
about the middle eighties and that what finally occasioned their discontin-
uance was the construction through the intervening territory of what is now
the Chicago, Great Western railroad. This railroad did not come near to
either Nevada or Newton but it furnished an outlet for the territory from
which the Newton and Nevada road would have been e.xpected to draw
business. In much more recent years a railroad actually has been built
from Newton through Cambridge to Boone but it has paid operating ex-
penses only as the result of electrifying its western end; and the eastern
end the receiver has been asking permission of court to tear up and aban-
don. Surely there is a story of hard lines in connection with the railroad
northwest from Newton.

BIDDING FOR THE STATE C.\PITOL.

One incident of this period is worthy of note in its demonstrating the
county seat of Story County was able to aspire to the highest honor that was
to be conferred by the state upon any town in the state. In the latter '60s
the demand for a new statehouse was becoming imperative and in ATarch,
1868, Nevada, having at last settled the Slough question in favor of the
north side, thought that its time was coming. Encouraged by apparently
vivid hopes of the Eldora railroad, and by a standing offer of John I. Blair
to give a quarter of a million dollars to the town that should get the capitol
onto the main line of the Northwestern railroad and being further able to

386 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

demonstrate that Xevada was nearer to the center of the state than anv
other county seat town, the business men of Xevada determined to put up
the remaining three quarters of John I. Blair's million and get the capital.
In the resolutions wliich they adojjted they omitted to state just how they
proposed to raise the three quarters of a million and this omission may
serve as some ex|)lanation why the matter was not further heard from.
But that they made so much of a start is a matter of record and the record
appears in the .Egis of Marcli 19, 1868, which says:

"At a large and enthusiastic meeting of the citizens of Xevada and vi-
cinity, called at the land office of Ross & Irwin, to take into consideration
the propriety of removing the capital of the state, the object of the meeting
being forcibly stated by T. J. Ross, the chairman, a committee consisting of
K. B. Potter, Jas. S. Frazier and L. Irwin was appointed to draft resolu-
tions emb<i(Iying tlie sense of the meeting and reported as follows:

■' "Whereas tlie Legislature is discussing the propriety of appropriating
$1,500,000 to build a new Statehouse and

•• 'Whereas many of the leading papers of this state, especially the Mar-
shall Times and Montana Standard, are advocating a relocation of the
capitol and

" 'Whereas, Des Moines is not in the geographical center of the state,
but is too far south, and

■■ 'Whereas, John I. Blair has otTered the sum of $250,000 to have the
capitol located on the Xorthwestern Railway and

" 'Whereas. Xevada is the nearest available point to the center of the
state and is the crossing of the E. X. & D. M. R. R. and Xorthwestern.

" 'Therefore, be it resolved,

"'1st. That Xevada will donate the sum of $750,000 to be expended
m building said Statehouse, at Xevada. and also donate grounds for said
buildings.

" '2(1. That our Representative Jas. Hawthorn be instructed to use all
honorable means to secure the location of the capitol at Nevada.

'3d. That the State Register and other papers favorable to tlie re-
moval of the capitol be requested to copy.' "

THE COUNTY F.MR.

It was during this period that the County Fair was started. It will be
remembered that the first Fair was held at Xevada in 1859. but the T.incoln-
Douglas campaign sufficiently occupied attention in 1S60 and after tha» the
war stopped nearly everything that did not pertain to itself. But after the
war the subject was revived and the people of .Ames and vicinity appear
to have taken the initiative. David Child of Xevada appears to have been
the first president of the revived organization and Robt. Marshall of Frank-
lin township, the seconrl and Wm. West of .Xmcs the third. The first Fair
was held ill .\mes in i8()S. hut later on Xevada raised the nioncv to buv

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 387

the Fair ground, captured the Fair organization and brought the Fair to
Nevada, where it continued to give annual exhibitions for about forty
years. It was in its period of greatest prosperity, or at least of popular in-
terest, probably in the time when the trotting horses had not yet gone out
of vogue in the county and the big drafts had begun to come in. Still later,
however, the more notable improvements were made in the Fair ground
but it seemed to take an increasing amount of effort to keep up the interest.

NEWSPAPERS.

For a considerable part of the decade following the war, the Story
County JEgis at Nevada continued to be the only newspaper in the county.
As we have abundantly demonstrated, it was conducted with much ability
by John M. Brainard. Mr. T.rainard sold out in 1869 to V. A. Ballon and
the latter in turn sold it in 1870 to W. H. Gallup, who called it the Rep-
resentative and was in 1875 elected to the Senate. As Ames was started
it came to have aspirations to be a newspaper town also, or printers sought
to make it such. The first attempt was in behalf of a paper named the Re-
flector and in 1868 it was made an additional county official paper; but
its life was short and its record scant. The .\mes Intelligencer was started
in April. 1869, by A. McFadden; and he made it go well enough so that
after a while he sold it to John Watts, who built it up materially. About
1871 the Watchman was started by R. H. Rhodearmel and it changed hands
quite frequently for several years, Mr. Rhodearmel going back into it for
a time and pushing it quite successfully. In 1880 it was bought by Mr.
\'. A. Ballou, formerly of the Mg\s, who conducted it for all but a few
months of its remaining existence or for more than a quarter of a century
and in this work identified himself with the affairs of the county from the
Democratic point of view. These three papers. The Representative, the
Intelligencer and the Watchman constituted the press of the county until
some time in the 8o's, when the Maxwell Tribune, the Story City Herald
and some other papers of less permanency began to make their appearance
in the outside towns.

SOME PERSONAL MENTION.

During this period there were a few men who came into the county
either as visitors or for what proved to be temporary residence and who,
while they remained, were persons of especial note in the community. One
of these was Chauncey Welton, who came to Nevada in 1867, purchased an
interest in the "National" hotel and assumed at that hotel the position of
"mine host." This was an event of interest; for Mr. Welton was a per-
sonage universally known and equally esteemed in these parts for many
years. The "National" was the old "Hutchins" house, then on the Lowrey
lots northwest of the city park, and the movement of the town from the
south side to the north side was only just fairly started. Mr. Welton, how-

388 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

ever, did not stay in his first location long. He sold his interest in that
hotel, and the building itself was moved by the purchaser to its familiar
location opposite the court house. But he continued in the hotel business,
purchasing and converting to hotel uses the Alderman building that was
at tlie time now under review just being completed north of tlie court
house square. To this building he added a one-story addition that came
out to Lynn street and served as the office of his new hotel. \n(\ here he
was, doing a good business and always serving good meals, when the writer
first became acquainted with conditions in Nevada. We think we first met
him when we accompanied Clyde Lockwood. who had some garden truck
of his own raising to dispose of for pocket money and who struck Mr.
Welton, successfully, for a sale. .Mr. W'elton seemed to us then about the
fattest man we had ever seen ; and altliough this superlative mav have been
undeserved, he was certainly large. P.ut he was also jolly, and the more
we saw of him the better we liked him. lie continued in the hotel business
here until his hotel went up in smoke on the December night in 1879, when
the most of the west side of the business street went out and up.

Shortly after this fire Mr. Welton moved away, going first to Des
Moines, and thence to Mapleton. and finally dying a number of years ago
at the Soldiers' Home. He retained some property interests here for a
time, however; and we remember quite distinctly that he came back here
and sold the lots north of the park, where the Representative families still
have their homes. Mr. Welton was all right ; and all the old-timers will
recall him with pleasure.

Another man who came here in the Spring of 1869, was W. E. Waring.
He came from New York with a considerable fortune and invested the bulk
of it in property in and about Nevada. He was a city man and is supposed
to have made his money in some department of the liquor business. He
understood that business well enough ; but his conception of values in a
pioneer country was poor, and he became in consecjuence the purchaser of
a large amount of property at prices that no one else would have paid for
it. In this way he succeeded in tying up a good part of his money, and
when he closed out and went away it was at a sacrifice. Mr. Waring and
his family remained here for about three years, and they did all that was
indicated in the prospectus, and more. They were liberal in their ways
generally, and they were very prominent in the community while thev re-
mained. When they left it was with di.scour.igcmcnt and with a view of
replenishing their fortunes amid environments to which they were lietter
adapted than they were to those obtaining here. .\l.>;o they left for good,
and there does not appear to be any recollection that, once they had gone,
any of them ever returned: nor is very much known here of them after
their departure. Rut they were for the time-being a notable i>art of the
community, and the first introduction through the .-Egis was not over-
drawn. It was as follows:

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 389

"Some time since we noticed the fact that Mr. \V. E. Waring of Xevv
York City had been making some purchases of real estate here. We have
now to state that he lias bought two sections of land just north of this
village, i6o adjoining the village plot on the east, running up to the rail-
road, a parcel of land from Col. Scott, and also from Maj. Hawthorn. He
has also bought the Welton House and nearly all the block south, several
houses and lots, among which we learn is the y\damson property. The
Welton House is to be moved back, and a large hotel with 40 feet front
and 60 feet deep and three stories high is to be erected in front of and in
connection with the present one. We learn from good authority that he
intends to invest $45,000 in and about Nevada, and this would indicate
that he has the 'rocks' to do it. Work has already commenced on some of
his repairs which will be pushed forward rapidly. He obtains possession
of the Welton House on the first of May and will immediately proceed to
erect the new hotel. Several men of means will probably come with him,
and will make this their abiding place. These improvements are in the
right direction and will have a tendency to advance the general prosperity
of the place and thereby the entire county. We may look forward to a
season of unexampled prosperity. Our citizens will welcome all that come
to make this point their home, who do so with a desire to assist in making
it a place worthy of its name. That Mr. W. will do this there appears to
be little doubt."

Two fatal accidents in October, 1867, left their strong impression on the
people of Nevada. One resulted in the death of F. W. Rhoads, who fell
from a scaffold on the old Alderman building on or near the present site
of the opera hall. His death was deeply felt by the people of town and
county and is often referred to when any of the old-timers get to talking
of pioneer days. Mr. Rhoads when he first came to the county located
at Story City, where he w-as the first postmaster; but after a time he re-
moved to Nevada, and here the members of his family continued to be iden-
tified until long after his death. Mr. Rhoads was a carpenter and a man of
much strength of character. At least two of his sons were successful
newspaper men and his eldest daughter was Airs. Laura Berry, who was
a woman of much distinction.

The other accident caused the death of young Buchanan, who was one
of a party of movers that consisted of Mrs. Eunice Buchanan, a widow,
her invalid daughter Mary, a son slightly younger, who was her main sup-
port, and her son-in-law, Lemuel Blood, and his family. Tliey were on
their way to Nebraska to take up homesteads ; and camping near Johnsons
Grove, the young man took a shot-gun and went after some prairie chickens.
Returning to the camp, he accidentally discharged his gun and he was in-
stantly killed. The party came on to Nevada and camped by the ford,
where their distress became known. The result of the accident was that
the western journey was abandoned; the good people here assisted in the
burial of the young man in the Nevada cemetery ; and the family located

390 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

liere. .Mr. Wood bought wliat is now the Morse farm northeast of the
fair ground; Mrs. Buchanan and Mary, ami later her grandson. Will
Blood, lived for years in a little house north of the Baptist church in Ne-
vada. Mar}' died there twenty years later, and Mrs. Buchanan died still
later at the home of her grandson Will, then a Methodist preacher, at Polk
City, and was buried here. Will is still in the Methodist ministry and is
in Kansas. AH of the family have been always highly esteemed ; but the
death of the young man who was the tnainstay of his mother and helpless
sister made their path a hard one through many years.

One very distinguished visitor, who came to Nevada in the Fall of iS66.
and from here drove across the country to Des Moines, was P. T. Barnum.
the famous show man. Of this visit there is a story which was locally
written up at the time and which Capt. George Child, to the day of his
death, delighted to retell and confirm. .\s the story was first told it was
as follows :

"The famous showman. Prince of Humbugs, was in our little village
for a few hours on Saturday last. Mr. George Child, our popular livery-
man, took him to Des Moines, where the showman delivered a lecture on
.Monday evening last. George thinks the trij) down to the capitol with
Barnum time well spent and gives us some items. Night overtook the pair
at Madden's, down in Polk county, and there thev stopjied for lodging.
.Madden is considered, even in Iowa, some on stock and farming. Barnum
also until now indulged in the idea that he was an e.xtcnsivc farmer, and
so he was according to the Connecticut standard, owning eighty acres and
feeding twenty steers. In conversation during the evening P. T. frequently
alluded to his I'ridgeport farm, and indulged in considerable blowing al)out
the extent of his agricultural operations, making frequent allusion to those
twenty steers.

"Learning incidentally thai his host was in the same business, he in-
quired bow much land he owned. Madden was. like Mo~cs, a little slow of
speech and answered indifTerently that he did not know exactly, he had
aliout a thousand acres under cultivation and considerable lying around
loose. This was an eye-opener: but the answer to the next cjuestion dried
ihe showman up: 'How many cattle do you feed?' 'Well, we are fatting
three hundred steers and have a lot of cows and young stock.' Barnum
subsided and rested im])atiently until daylight, when he went out to see
this Iowa farmer 'feed his little Hock.' and was doubtless imjiressed with
the practical exhibition of the broad-gauge plan of conducting business
among the Hawkeyes. which no mere heresay could ever have effected."

INTRODUCING B.X.SK R.M.L.

The summer of \Rftj should be permancntlv commemorated in the
History of Story County as the season in which men. boys and the public
were first made acquainteil with the great .Xmerican game of Base Ball.

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 391

Tile contemporary references to the subject evidenced fairly that at the
beginning of the season the game was locally known only by reputation,
but that the first club was organized with general interest, a subscription
raised for purchase of the necessary outfit and public enthusiasm aroused
to its highest pitch by the first match game between Nevada and Ames.
That is to say the enthusiasm of Nevada was at the highest pitch that was
consistent with a victory for Ames in the initial game. While of the en-
thusiasm of Ames, in which town there was as yet no local newspaper,
there is no record extant. But how the Amesites really felt over winning
from Nevada by a score of 66 to 55 the first match game of ball ever
played in Story County people who have been faiuiliar with the later course
of events may have some imaginings, but luay venture no description. In
view of the awful score already indicated it is to be remembered that, ac-
cording to the rules of the game in the first years of its popularity, the
pitcher was required to deliver the ball with his arm straight, the impetus
being such as he could give by means of a downward and forward swing
of his arm along his side. The ball thus pitched was a straight ball and not
especially swift and the conditions were absolutely favorable to the side
that was in to bat the ball all over the field. In addition to what appears
upon the record there is a verbal admission by John A. McCall that he was
the party who in behalf of the first club sent of? the order for the first
jjase ball outfit, bearing in mind that no local dealer yet carried a base ball
stock and that goods of this order had to be procured direct from Chicago.
With such preliminaries let it here be recorded on the authority of the
yEgis in the early summer of 1867:

"A club for the practice of this game (base ball) has been organized
in our village with a membership of some thirty persons. The club has
sent for the necessary 'traps,' elected officers and soon will be in trim
to lug ofif honors and carry in health and muscle. It will be refreshing to see
something better than pitching old horse-shoes, resorted to for amusement
on our streets."

And the first match game between Nevada and Ames was played, as
we understand it. on the old south square where now is the City Park and
the date was the 2d of August, 1867, which date may be fairly considered
as bearing to the subject of base ball in Story County the same relation as
does the Fourth day of July, 1776, to the American Commonwealth. The
^-Egis of the following week published the momentous record, which in full
was as follows :

"Base ball is all the rage — in fact everybody plays base ball. Big towns
play, little towns ditto. Nevada has a base ball club, so has Ames. It
seems that two base ball clubs cannot exist in close proximity without
contending for the mastery. Hence the baseljallists of Ames and Nevada
played a social game on the grounds of the latter on the 2d inst. At two
o'clock p. m. the game opened by Nevada going to bat, where they scored
but three tallies and were put out. Ames followed, but were sent to the

392 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

field again without a tally — clean white-wash. The contest was animated ;
some displays of brilliant playing, intermingled with some more common-
place, serving to enliven the game. The following is the score:

"Ames— T. F. McCormick. 2 nms. 7 out ; J. F. Barton, 8 and 5 ; N.
A. Rainbolt, 10 and i ; 11. May, 7 and 2; G. II. Gale, 6 and 6; T. Day-
ton, 9 and 2; A. U. Gould, 9 and o; A. L. Tomblin. 7 and 3; S. B. Fare-
well, 8 and i ; total 66 and 27.

"Nevada — A. L. Adams, 6 runs and 4 outs: T. Ross. 5 and 5; 1.. Ir-
win, 6 and 3; John McCall, 6 and 3: H. Blanchard. 6 and 4; Christopher,
6 and 4: C. Garrett, 8 and i ; J. Chumbley. 7 and i ; C. H. Cobleigh. 5
and 5 ; total 55 and 27.

"By innings —

"Ames — o 20 9 9 6 5 M 4 o — 66

"Nevada — 3 7 1 10 2 3 6 12 11 — 55

"Fly catches, Ames 5, Nevada 7; foul catches, Ames 9, Nevada 13;
Umpire, D. Y. Clark; scorers, S. L. Lucas for Ames, T. J. Ross for Ne-
vada ; time of game. 2 hours and 30 minutes.

CHAPTER XXXVIII.
EDITORIAL REMINISCENCES.

What has heretofore been set down in this history has been gathered
at various times and from various sources, but the subject matter all re-
lates to happenings in the county before the compiler of this history had
personal knowledge of the county. But in the fall of 1875, the editor's
father having been chosen by the local school board to be the organizer of
the city schools in the new brick school building and to supplement the
lower departments with a duly constituted high school, the Payne family
came to Nevada and with the exception of a couple of years in the begin-
ning of the eighties they have lived here continuously ever since. In the
relation therefore, of what is to follow, the element of personal associa-
tion and familiarity largely enters, and the theme of the present chapter is
to portray the situation as the editor found it when as a High school
boy he came to the county seat of Story County.

As before noted, the time was the Fall of 1875, the editor's father had
been elected principal of the city schools, his mother was to be an assistant
and he, himself, was to be a member of the High school; but the new brick
school building was not finished until late in the fall, and so there was no
occasion for any of the family except the senior to be here until the build-
ing was ready. The school was opened on the very first day that it could
be opened, which was the first Tuesday in November; and we remember
on that day looking at Nevada for the first time with the eyes of a resi-
dent. It was to us an attractive place; but it is easy now to look back
and see that the village had not yet passed the pioneer stage. Of struc-
tures that might by any courtesy be called modern the barely finished
school house was the only one. The court house had been voted for ; but
it had not yet been begun nor the contract let. The opera hall was not
thought of until a year and a half later. The Ringheim building, which
was the pioneer of good stores and office buildings, was yet to come along
with the opera hall. The only building on the street that was called "brick"
was Aderman's hardware, — and that was not a brick building at all, though
it did then have a veneer of brick in front and half way back on the north
side. The most pretentious residence in the village was that of Otis
Briggs, which was west of the business street and is now included, cov-
ered up and lost sight of in the Nevada hotel. Next probably was the Col.

393

394 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

Scott residence, where R. S. I'atriok now lives; and tliinl was the W. S.
Waldron home facing south on the back end of the lot which has the S.
E- Briggs store and office building. .Mr. Waldron ran a general store on
the corner, and did a good business. Tlie store, we think, went in the fire
of 1882; but the house had been moved before that to the site now oc-
cui)ied by the J. W. Ambrose home, where it was enlarged and improved;
and years later it was moved two blocks further north and now stands just
south of the water tank.

I'.ut Nevada was a busy place in those "days. There were no railroads
through the county on either the south or the north side; ajid the "narrow
gauge" from Des Moines up to Ames commanded small respect. Baldwin
& Maxwell did a great business at Iowa Center and other points to the
south ; but .Xevada, .Ames and Colo were the railroad points of the county,
,uid Xevada drew the cream of the trade through a large though thinly
■ettled territory. Perhaps the sidewalks, too, were not so wide as they
are now, and there was therefore not so much room on them for the peo-
ple to congregate on a Saturday afternoon as there is now. Besides they
were shorter. The Inisiness district extended for a bUu-k antl a half on
each side of Lynn street, measuring on the east side north from the old
"Nevada Mall" soiuh of the present "Representative" office, and on tlie
west side from McCall & Thomp.son's office on what is now the post
office corner. West of the latter corner was a building which was occu-
pied by tliL- Watchman newspaper, and over on the south square there
were a lot of old and abandoned business shanties; but the business and
the peo])le were concentrated u])on Lynn street as indicated. In this place,
the sidewalks being high and narrow and the mud in the street being
sticky and deep, the people who came for twenty miles or so about to
lay in their supplies made a good deal of show. They blocked up the
walks and made passage down the street for a woman something to re-
quire her strict attention.

Present recollection will support the statement that the condition of
the Story county |)rairie was not imrecognizably changed in ten years.
In the middle '70s the farm which now belongs to C. M. Morse, two
miles northeast of Nevada, bordered on the east a prairie which, so far
as we know, might have been followed in the open to the Barrens of Can-
ada. There were quite a niunber of enclosed farms in the Johnson Grove
neighborhood ; but when the traveler had passed the "sheep farm" on his
way toward Illinois Crove he came out upon a prairie, where he was liable
to lose sight of the Seymour Ilix place before he sighted the place of
W. H. Golly north of the Little Minerva. Ten years later, in 1884, the
prairie in the vicinity of southeast Warren and southwest Lincoln was
just beginning to be fenced and improved; and at that time also there
was a great tract of open country northwest of the Turner McLain farm
in Milford and others in Grant, while southeast, toward Iowa Center
through the oldest settled portion of the county, the main traveled road

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 395

was not forced wholly off the prairie and on to tb.e section and half sec-
tion lines. But the pioneer days were really passing. The county seemed
not to be improved, and much of it was unoccupied ; while the town was
scattered and thin and consisting yet of the original lot of frame build-
ings of unpretentious dimensions; but the spirit of development and of
permanency was here, and the time had come for beginning the work of
building a county seat worthy of perhaps the richest twenty-four miles
square of prairie in all this glorious state.

Somehow, as we look back at the scene it seem.s as if everybody must
have been young in those days, and there may have been more than seem-
ing in the impression. The fact is that the war had made men of a whole
lot of boys before their time ; and it was then only ten years after the
war. The fraternity of the veterans was fully established, and they had
a cohesion and force which is not characteristic of the average men of
their age now ; but they were in fact young fellows, and we believe that
they did give a younger cast to the community than it will ever have again.
It would naturally seem that with the passage of years the men who have
come on in the community would seem younger to an observer who has
been familiar with them all ; but that is hardly the way it strikes us ; and
we are sure that the men who were best known in Nevada thirty years
ago were much younger on the average than are the men who are equally
well known here today. Perhaps when one thinks of it, this is a differ-
ence in the situation quite as striking as all the differences that have come
as the result of increased population, greater wealth and more modern con-
veniences.

THE HIGH SCHOOL.

The editor's strongest interest at the time and for some years after-
ward was in the high school, which occupied the third floor of the new
brick school building in Mills's addition. The portion of the present build-
ing which is north of the hall is a later addition ; and as matters then were
there were two grade rooms each in the basement and on the first floor,
with two grades of scholars in each room. Upon the upper floor the east
end of the high school room, as it now is, was partitioned off into two reci-
tation rooms, and the pupils in the main room sat facing the partition wall
to the east. In the middle of that wall hung the picture of George Wash-
ington— a copy of .Stuart's most famous portrait — which even yet looks
down ui)on the youth of the city to remind them of the lessons of truth
and patriotism that are ever associated with the face anrl name of tlie
"Father of his Country."

The teachers were the senior Payne as principal, his wife as one of
the assistants and Miss Lou Curtis of Independence, Iowa, as the
other assistant. The last named resigned at the end of the first school year
to become Mrs. Foster and aside from a few of her pupils there are prob-
ably not many here now to remember very much about her. Piut she is

39G HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

remembered with respect and affection by those who were brought under
her instruction. She was a recent graduate of the Agricultural College,
was strong in mathematics, and put her highest class through nine books
of geometry and also i)lain trigonometry in one school year, which record
has always ke]jt the writer guessing wliy in the present day High school
curriculum — not in any one particular school, but in High schools gener-
ally— it seems to be thought necessary to devote two years to the same
work. Along in the summer, however, with her wedding day only a few
weeks off, it ap]>eared to be a good deal of an effort for her to hold her
attention strictly to the business in the class-room, and in her musings it
seemed to make little difference whether the youth at the blackboard was
really demonstrating something or was only talking, if only he kept the
words coming Huently antl wound up properly with "Q. E. D." But cer-
tainly the situation excused any such lapses ; for the school, having been
opened late in the previous fall, was kept going without any vacation at
the holidays — Christmas and New Year's coming on Saturdays — and with
only a week's vacation in April, clear until the end of June; and with
the coming of the hot summer days there was occasion enough for mental
relaxation, even if there were no wedding ahead to be interested in.

The course of study, as it had been definitely outlined for the tirst
time, put the work of the senior year above the attainments of any mem-
bers of the school; but there was a strong junior class, with which the
newcomer was so fortunate as to find himself identified. Holding the first
place in the school for two years and being the first of all to pass through
the formalities and celebrations of a graduation, this class had more than
its legitimate share of fun and glory. Another respect in which this class
proved exceptional was in the degree to which its members continued to
reside in Nevada after growing up. Of the nine who graduated, Minnie
Alderman Mills, Rose Murphey, Helen Harper and the writer still make
their home in the town of their school days ; Will Hague is only a little
out of town on a rural route and Peter Joor prescribes for the ailments of
people in and about Maxwell. Only a third of the class — Newton Sim-
mons, Lina Hambleton Auers and I'^lora Dana Corey have moved far away.
Others who were identified with the class but dropped out at or near the
end of the first year, were the two I.aytons — Will and Mollie — and Hilda
Hoel. In the next class at that time were Will McCord, Bruce Harper,
Mont Cessna, Ella Shugart Funson, Carrie Ross Horton, Ella Wright I.or-
ing and Mamc Hambleton Streit, who comiilcted the course, and Rollin
Davis, Emily Purkhiser llornberger, and Georgia Warrick, who did not
quite do so. Then in the next lot there were Ed. .Alderman, Clyde Lock-
wochI, Channing Tichenor, Belle Hempstead Siddall and .\gnes Harper
Horton ; while a crowd of others yet younger followed on.

Calling them all back in memon,-, some may be here omitted that
shoul<l be included in an eninneration of the representative High school
pupils of that time ; but the foregoing were substantially the crowd who

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HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 397

by age and rank — not counting the first year pupils — stood for the High
school of thirty years ago this winter. They were a good crowd of,
youngsters; and fortunate indeed was any boy or girl to find himself or
herself admitted to their fellowship. Ability, character and youthful energy
and ambition were qualities well and liberally distributed through the lot ;
and the rivalries of the classroom and of the athletic field, the experiences
of the Friday afternoon exercises, the quarrels and reconciliations over
nothing in particular that are common among people of that age, all were
contributing to make men and women of the lot. And without entering
upon any eulogiums or particularizations, we think that an inspection of
the list above in the light of present knowledge will warrant the state-
ment that Nevada's boys and girls of that time have turned out fairly well.
We do not know that any of the lot have won fame or fortune in very
exceptional measure ; but practically all, so far as known, have become
useful and fairly representative citizens. Here, there and elsewhere they
are doing the work which circumstances and opportunity have laid out
for them. It is said that there is upon a tablet in Westminster Abbey the
epitaph that "all his sons were brave and all his daughters virtuous ;" and
some such encomium would not be out of place for the High school of
that day. We do not think there is a boy in the list that ever became an
habitual user of liquor, and the girls, we know, are ornaments to the state.

Although a majority of the first class have staid in the county, nearly
all of the others named have gone far away. Ed. Alderman is here and
Mont Cessna sleeps on the western border of the city ; but these are the
only exceptions. Flora Dana Corey lives at Seattle, Lina Hambleton Auers
at Mission Creek, Minnesota ; Newton Simmons has not, so far as we know,
any permanent address ; Will Layton lives in Colorado but is
frequently seen in Des Moines ; his sister Mollie is married and in South
Dakota ; Hilda Hoel married and died in Colorado, and her daughter came
back here and married Fred Wells and went with him to California ; Will
McCord lives in Des Moines and travels the west over as general agent for
a school book house ; Bruce Harper was clerk of Monona county ; Ella Fun-
son lives at Minneapolis, and Mame Hambleton Streit teaches at St. Paul ;
Ella Loring lives at Lynden, Washington, and Emma Hornberger at Lin-
coln, Nebraska ; Georgia Warrick has been for years the principal of one of
the great ward schools in East Des Moines ; Rollin Davis is nearly lost to the
sight of his old friends, but he is supposed to be in Kansas or Nebraska ;
Clyde Lockwood is a successful engineer at Portland, Oregon ; Belle Sid-
dall is at Clinton and Agnes Horton at Creston; Channing Tichenor in
some unaccountable way drifted down to Arkansas, whence he returned
only once and that for his mother's funeral.

So they have scattered^all but a little knot of the older ones — ; but
the same school bell still peals on in the same old way, calling a much
younger generation to the same scenes and to similar experiences, and it
will doubtless do the same in turn years hence for some of their children.

398 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

Hut the new faces are not the old faces, and the occasional visitor within
the once familiar walls finds it too hard to call back the shades of old as-
sociates. Men and women may kee]) their spirits young; but youth itself
comes only once; and about the old school house cling memories, among
the fondest and dearest for all who liave ever been sheltered there.

AMUSEMENTS IN THE JO's.

As to the first winter of our residence here, that of 1875-6, the chap-
ter on amusements, so far as we can remember, will have to be much
like one on the snakes in Ireland. We think that what really passed
with the young people as a substitute for amusements, not because it was
funny but because it was the only thing going, was a jjrotracted meeting
conducted at the old Methodist church by the pastor. Rev. J. C. R.
Layton. Mr. Layton was an earnest preacher and had a most [wwerful
voice and combative nature. He was strong on the polemics of religion,
and he waged war alike on the sinner outside of the church, upon the
recalcitrant within the church and upon the dissenter who divided the
church with new doctrines or the revival of others so old as to be out of
date. His meetings drew all the crowds that the church would hold, and
they kept the school boys and girls who attended so late out of bed
that the youngsters were likely to have a hard time of it keeping up to
their work the next day. He also debated with Elder Kilgore. an .^d-
ventist preacher then stationed here, and the tw^o of them drew closer
attention to the history and succession of the Sabbath than the matter has
ever had here at any other time.

But of formal public amusements there were practically none during
that winter. The only hall in the village was "Briggs" Hall" in the old
building on the east side of Lynn street which survived all the fires better
than any other building in town except the old hotel, but which finally
did succumb, without the very earnest protest of the fire department, to
a fire that was bad enough to make it not worth repairing and not so bad
as to endanger other property. So there really was a poor chance for
shows, although we believe that the first theatrical troupe of our recollec-
tion did come along and play for a season in the old hall sometime in
the spring.

But the second winter things were different. The high school had
been having exercises right along on Friday afternoons ; there were now
in the school five regular classes, the juniors of the previous year having
become seniors, and the pressure for room in the lower departments having
forced the highest grammar grade into the high school room for seating
accommodations; and it was time to have an entertainment for the benefit
of the school. Tlie senior class naturally took charge of the performance,
but necessarily accepted some help from the juniors. Two of the latter
that we distinctly remember as participating were Will McCord and Sam

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 399

McHose — now of the tile factory — , who had come into the school for
this year and graded between the two upper classes. The performance
after much preparation — about which we remember little — was given
upon a platform erected in the high school room, and it was unanimously
voted a great success. The main part of the show was a parlor play,
"Cast Thy Bread Upon the Waters," and we guess the piece was all
right. What we are sure of, however, is that Will McCord got e.xcited
and sprung the denouement of the play before the others had brought
things properly up to the climax. Then it was time for the rest to get
excited, and there was a scurrying around to repair the damage. Sam
McHose had to get on the stage quick, when he was not ready to go ; and
he used worse language than we ever heard him use at any other time
in his life. But they all got around somehow; and though some of the
spectators thought that the play was a little incomplete, none of them
ever charged the youngsters with having mixed the show.

Along toward the end of the school year there was another high
school entertainment in which the main performance was a pantomine
about the bride who ran off and hid herself in a box that she could not
get out of and in which her bones were found a long time afterwards.
What we remember best about this show, however, relates to a rehearsal
one night when it rained ; for the heavens were indeed opened that night,
and it was very late before it was practicable for the boys to scatter out
to see the girls home and help them steer around the trees that harl been
blown down in the way. The next morning the bridges were all out of
the creek, and out by the railroad crossing there had been washed the
hole which is more or less of a swimming hole to this day and which
was a splendid place of amusement so long as we had any taste for such
diversion.

The purpose of both these entertainments was to raise funds for a set
of Appleton's Cyclopedias, which were in time duly purchased and in-
scribed with the names of the first graduating class. In the presenta-
tion Mr. Gallup, the then editor of the "Representative," also bore a part ;
for he donated a year's advertising for the cyclopedia and so secured a
discount in the price of the work, which discount was a very material
matter in making the finances of the transaction come out even. The
cyclopedias unquestionably were put where they would do the most good,
for they did service in the high school for more than a quarter of a cen-
tury, and after so much hard usage they became a sight for the occasional
visitor to behold ; but they have now been replaced with an up to date
edition of the "International."

During this second winter two or three other things happened to make
things pleasant. One was that the weather was the mildest that we have
ever experienced here for the season, and in consequence the school boys
were able to play ball all through February and from that time on through
the spring with only occasional interruptions. It was really fine : anrl

400 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

though the first football had been purchased by collection during the
previous season, football as an amusement was yet to become established
antl it in no wise interfered with the continuity of the baseball season.

Another thing happening was that the Good Templars' lodge took a
boom, and nearly all of the older pupils of the high school became mem-
bers. From this time on for a considerable period the lodge was really
the focal point for young people's society in the village. It would be
hard now to tell why the lodge meetings were so interesting; but the
young folks were all there; there was apt to be some sort of program,
for which nobody cared ; there was the later parceling out to go home ;
and once in three months there was the election, which gave an oppor-
tunity for the exercise of political instincts and activities.

Perhaps also real interest in the temperance cause may have had a
little to do with the success of the lodge ; for at the time there was much
temperance work in progress ; and two further illustrations of this fact
are afforded by the temperance revival which was conducted that winter
in the Methodist church by the local preachers and lay speakers, and by
the presentation in April in I'riggs' hall — the last notable entertainment
to be given there — of the jilay of "Ten Nights in a Bar Room." This
performance was given on two successive nights by a company of the
older set, and Josie Snyder, then a compositor in the "Representative"
office but now and for many years Mrs. S. H. Carhart of Mapleton, had
the star part of May Morgan, whose privilege it was to plead, "Father,
dear father, come home with mo now."

This presentation was so much of a success that the younger set
concluded to imitate and outdo it the next winter, when Rose Murphey.
Ella Wright, Will McConl, Jim Tanner, Homer SwafTord and others
presented the same play under more favorable conditions in the new
opera hall. The performance was along toward spring sometime and
was, we believe, the concluding appeal to the voters to vote the <lry ticket
in the sjiring election. We believe tliat the iiolitical end was not wliolly
realized; but the dramatic triuinj)li was without qualification. There
was abundance of real talent in the company; there was little of
superior talent here known with which to make comparison ; the public
was stirred up over the theme of the play and aggressively in sympathy
with its moral ; and the opera hall was packed with the biggest crowd that
we have ever seen jammed into that room.

HOME DR.\M.\TICS AND OTHERS.

Pursuing the subject of the home dramatics that figured here in the
later '70s. They began in 1877 and continued for five or six years, and
they were typical of what may be considered the second stage in the de-
velopment of the village. The opera hall was built in the summer of 1877;
and with its completion opportunity was afforded for the acknowledge-

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 401

ment of thespian aspirations that had up to that time had small chance to
get before the public confessional. As before noted, there had been one
recorded visit of a traveling dramatic troupe, and an older set had staged
"Ten Nights in a Bar Room" in the old Briggs hall ; but with the opening
of the new and ample hall a new spirit seized the community. In the new
situation every show was a novelty, and the way in which nearly every-
body, old or young, turned out to the entertainments, at least a part of
the time, was something to make the heart glad, if one were seeking either
glory or diversion behind the foot-lights. So Nevada became at once a
show town, and at the same time it furnished a good part of its own shows.

The opera hall itself, it should be noted, was practically a public enter-
prise, which grew out of a happy suggestion by Judge Balliet, late of Des
Moines. It happened that in the spring of 1877 Nevada had a little busi-
ness movement to the west, and that four business men at once started to
put up buildings across the street north from the new court house. The
men were J. A. Fitchpatrick, John Beatty, Dr. A. G. Gorrell and J. S.
Frazier, and they all got their workmen on the ground at once to put up
some little frame buildings such as were still the recognized type of busi-
ness architecture in this section. Mr. Balliet came along to see the work
and remarked that it was too bad that those buildings could not be more
substantially built so that the town might put a hall over them. The idea
struck everyone so favorably that the whole gang quit work and a public
meeting was called for that evening to consider the matter. The outcome
was that a company was formed with Mr. Balliet as president, an addi-
tional lot secured wide enough for a stairway, and the general plan of con-
struction adopted that is shown in the present building. In the new deal
Mr. Frazier dropped out ; but Mr. Fitchpatrick assumed his interest and
obligation, and the scheme was thus successfully carried out. Everybody
was interested and took stock in the hall company ; and perhaps here was
an additional reason why when the hall had been completed and opened,
everybody was favorable to the shows. At any rate it was the best time
for shows that there has ever been in Nevada.

The opera hall was opened in December, 1877, with the "Two Orphans,"
presented by the Manton Marble company, and the opening performance
was followed up on the succeeding evenings with the "Gilded Age" and a
couple of other plays that we did not see and hence do not remember much
about. Soon afterward the Home Dramatic Qub which had already been
practicing presented its first performance and from this time on for sev-
eral years the entertainments in the opera hall which have survived that
third of a century of forgetfulness were those which the young people of
the village themselves put on the boards. The first of the series was a
dramatization of Tennyson's "Dora;" and along toward spring of the
same season there was a reproduction of "Ten Nights in a Bar Room,"
which was given for two nights and which on the second night at a ten

402 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

cent price drew wliat was probably the most densely packed crowd that
ever filled the opera hall. The next winter there was "East Lynne" and
"Camilla's Husband ;" and the next brought out the "Two Orphans" again,
and an Irish comedy the name of which is forgotten, even by the one of
the performers who helps us in our efforts to get the story straight.

Tlie writer went off to school and missed in consequence several of
these performances; but "East Lynne" happened to be presented in vacation
time, and that performance along with "Dora" and "Ten Nights" is well
fixed in memory. We believe that the old time dramatists consider "Dora"
their best performance : but somehow the one that stays with us the best
is "East Lynne." Possibly the reason therefore is that the undying popu-
larity of "East Lynne" has brought it around where we have seen it oftener
than any other play on the boards with only the doubtful exception of
"Uncle Tom's Cabin;" but it is not unreasonable that the spectator of
"East Lynne" for the first time should have been impressed somewhat as
have thousands of others who have heard it and been pleased and have gone
to hear it again and again until the whole story and even many of the
lines have become familiar. But whatever the reason, the lap.se of time
from youth to middle age has not been sufficient to dim the imjirc^sion that
that performance of "East Lynne" was a good one. I--lla Wright as Isabel.
Rose Murphey as Barbara, and jini Tanner as Sir Francis had the lead-
ing parts; and with their able support they made the story and les.son of
the wayward wife as forceful as it ever needs to be. Perhaps we migiit
think as well of "Dora" if we had heard it so often ; but we never conld see
anvtliing to Farmer .Mien hut a jtig headed old fool who made himself
and everyone else miserable witii his obstinacy; and if there are out here
in this free land on the prairies any old fellows who need the lesson that is
in that story and play presented, they are very likely included in the number
who would not be out to the theatre. "Camilla's Husbanil" was a Spanish
play for which the performers had elaborate costumes, and when we got
home from school some time everybody was talking about it; but in fixing
the date for the performance the company did not have in mind the thought
of getting themselves properly written uj) in this history, and so they
omitted to accommodate tlie prc-cntatii>n to our convenience.

The Home Dramatic Club assisted various charities and worthy pur-
poses with the proceeds of their entertainments. The "Temperance Re-
form Club," which was another of the institutions of those days, was
helped out of its financial difficulties a couple of times by the Home Dra-
matics ; but a considerable share of the net earnings went for scenery
and stage-fittings for the opera hall. .\ hall well equipped as well as spa-
cious was desired by the public in general and liy the youthful performers
in particular; and as a consequence there was investment of earnings in
material that for many years furnished the stage settings with which
play-goers here were most familiar — and may even yet possibly see put

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 403

on for some occasions. Perhaps if the club had lasted longer, the local
interest in things dramatic would have longer continued as strong as it
was in the days when plays were a novelty for nearly all ; but the
dramatists scattered or went to school teaching — as young people do — ,
and the subject dropped. But in their day, the Home Dramatics gave
the people of the village a considerable part of the current amusement,
and got out of the performance a considerably larger amount of fun
themselves — which illustrates once more that the people who seek to
entertain others are the ones who best entertain themselves.

THE "R. E. C. A."

A local organization which impressed itself much upon the youngsters
in the middle 70's, bore for its title the mystic letters R. E. C. A.

The organization was very secret, and it took possession of the high
room in the old brick school house which had been abandoned by the dis-
trict when the new school house was completed and which was later
torn down and worked over into the O. B. Alderman residence. There
were about sixty members, and the real purpose of the order was chari-
table, to which end all of the revenues were devoted. The practice was
to leave groceries, dry-goods or other necessary supplies at midnight at
the doors and the windows of the orphans, so that none might be the
wiser, save those whose distress was thus recognized and relieved. The
order had a ritual that had come from somewhere ; but there was no
central organization having authority over subordinate lodges, and the
lodge here was essentially independent and local. As a matter of fact,
however, it was the working organization that for a time did the local
lodge business ; and it flourished from about the time that the old school
house was abandoned by the district until about the time that building
was torn down. The methods and practices of its initiatory ceremonies
are naturally a little hard to learn all about, but one tradition is that the
unfortunate was marched unconsciously and blindfolded upon a blanket
and then asked if he was ready to go to heaven. About the time that
he acknowledged that he would as soon go there as anywhere, the corners
of the blanket were violently pulled and he started up. What we are
sure of, however, is that shouts of laughter used to wake the echoes
about the old school house; and we have never heard mention
of "R. E. C. A." in the presence of one of the old boys, that he did not
at once break forth in laughter.

The most notable public appearance of the "R. E. C. A." company
was on the occasion of the laying of the corner-stone of the new court
house. Flaming posters had long announced that on a certain night
the ceremony would take place, and at the appointed time there was a
great crowd about the mounds of earth and foundation stones that marked
the site where now the court house stands. As is apt to be the case at

404 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

such times, the performers were the slowest of all in arriving upon the
scene; but along about ten o'clock the wierd procession solemnly sallied
forth from the portals of its den of terror. It is not possible now to re-
produce the whole scene ; but the procession wound about to its scene
of action and there went through a pantomine that was calculated duly
to impress the curious and the youthful. Then the sable band passed
about the hole on the top of the rock at the north corner, and each in
turn put his fingers into the hole. There was a hole; for we inspected
it before the performance; and after the performance there was still the
hole; for we inspected it again; but it was as empty afterwards as it
was before ; and if anything ever was put in the place where it is wont
to put things when new and great buildings are to be built, we do not
know about it. But the performance was a success in entertaining the
crowd and in fixing the "R. E. C. A." in the minds of a generation.
Following the exercise the members had a banquet at the hotel, which
banquet was different from one other which they had there on some
other occasion, and upon which occasion the order in token of its modesty
feasted upon water and raw potatoes.

But every order has its day, and this was like the others. When all
of the eligible young or youngish men of the village that would do so
had passed through the initiatory ceremonies, the interest in the proceed-
ings naturally waned. There was no general organization to give strength
and permanency to the order; the funds had been expended in doing
good ; the hall in which it had lodged was torn down ; and it did not
establish itself in other quarters. It was worthy and jovial, however,
while it lasted ; and its memory is green among its old members and with
those who were beneficiaries of its thoughtful kindness.

THE CENTENNIAL FOURTH.

The first Fourth of July which the editor passed in Story County
was the Centennial h'ourth of 1S76. The whole county celebrated that
year at Nevada, and the celebration was one worthy to be remembered.
From the amount of display it was manifest that subscriptions for the
expenditures of the day had been liberal. \'ery few of the showier
matters arc now recalled in detail hut recollection is clear that one brave
man rode in a wooden cage with a very large dog that had been sheared
like a lion, the combination representing "Daniel in the Lion's Den."
The procession of which this was a feature led the throng to tlic Dnnkcl-
barger grove across the creek southwest from the cemetery. At the
opening of the exercises, there was a call, to which there were very few
responses, for all who had lived in the county for twenty-five years to
take scats on tlie platform. Wliat impressed the editor then was the
remark of a bystander that this invitation would not catch many and as
nearly as we can now make out the heads of families to whom it applied

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 405

were William Parker, Daniel and Mormon Ballard, John H. Keigley,
Isaac S. French and possibly a very few others, but not many.

In the formal exercises, the Declaration of Independence was read
by W. D. Lucas of Ames and the oration was by Col. John Scott of
Nevada. In accordance with a plan quite generally urged in the state
for the celebrations of that year, this oration was, in the main, a review
of the history of the county up to that time. It was published by the
Representative in red, white and blue, and it has been a standard work
of reference for the enquirer into Story County history ever since. The
sentiment in this address that most impressed at the moment, was one
of disappointment on the part of the people of Nevada who had made
the great and necessary effort to secure the location of the Agricultural
College without any thought that they might thereby build up a rival
town wliich should antagonize the interests of Nevada — referring doubt-
less to the then very fresh controversy over the new court house.

The entertainments of the afternoon have passed from memory, but
in the evening an elaborate program of fireworks and tableaux was
begun. This part of the entertainment was on the then wholly vacant
block on the northeast corner of which is now the Nevada West school
and the stage was near the northwest corner of the block. There were
arrangements for a spectacle worthy of the occasion but it was only
fairly begun when the rain began to fall heavily and the entertainment
was postponed until the next Saturday night, when it was finished to
a smaller crowd, but with entire success.

The storm which thus interrupted the closing festivities was a mem-
orable one. It was not one of the very few great floods in the county
but no other great storm here ever caught so many people away from
home. It was a storm which made impracticable the return home of
the country people that night. Those who had friends in town, who
could provide them with shelter were especially fortunate. As for the
rest, and these were much the greater number, the store keepers opened
up the stores of the city and made them as comfortable for the night
as was possible on the counters and cracker boxes.

SOME OTHER STORMS.

The storm of the Centennial Fourth was a famous storm, but at least
three floods have been much greater and according to local tradition have
been in a class by themselves since the white man came to this country.
The first of these was in 1866. This was before our coming to the country
and we know nothing of it personally. But it carried away the bridge
which had been built over the creek at the ford on Sycamore street in
Nevada and because of the desire to get the new bridge above the reach
of high water, it was rebuilt not on the old site but at the now familiar
crossing on South street or Fifth avenue south. One consequence of this

406 HISTORY OF STORY COUXTY

change has been that for forty-five years the travellers to Nevada from
the southwest have climbed the hill to the east of the later crossing instead
of approaching town by the much easier grades from the ford.

The second storm was in June, 1877, and was in the nature of a water
spout around the head waters of the East and West Indian creeks, par-
ticularly the West Indian. The resulting flood took out the most or all
of the bridges on both streams including the Xorthwestern railroad bridges.
And it gave the West Indian a width of probably 400 feet at the cross-
ing southwest of town. An incident of this storm was of interest to the
boys of the community for many years "this interest pert?ining to the
e.xcavation of a swimming hole under the west railroad bridge. Prior to
this storm the stream where it flowed under the bridge flow-ed over a gravel
bottom, its depth being as little as the stage of water would permit. But
this storm sent down the valley a flood which was turned into a whirlpool
by the railroad embankments and the whirlpool dug a great pit under the
bridge. The trestle work which carried the railroad was dropped in and
carried away and the ties were left lianging from the rails. The railroad
company drove piles to hold up its track: but until after manv vears the
stream filled up the hole again iliat was the only good swimming hole
there ever was around Xevada.

The third great storm was in July. 1881. This storm was iinicli wider
in e.xtent and its flood in this vicinity was no greater than in other counties
about. It was on the night of this storm that Kate Shellev made her
famous tri]) across the Des Moines river bridge at Maingona to warn an
api)roaching passenger train of a washed out bridge on Honey creek. .Vnd
in Story County the washouts of 1877 were generally repeated. Railroad
traffic was interrupted for several days and the county had to litiild a now
set of bridges on the most of its highways. These three storms and their
resulting floods arc distinguished as being much the greatest since the settle-
ment of the county.

CHAPTER XXXIX.
IN THE LATTER SEVENTIES.

The impressions of the county to the youthful observer in the latter
seventies have been set forth in the preceding chapter. The more mature
judgment tends to strengthen the youthful view that the county at the time
had reached its period of maturity and was about to enter upon the period
of fuller development which comes with the gradual improvement of any
country and community. The erection in this period of the new court
house, which was the best in this portion of Iowa at the time it was built,
and the beginnings of organized high schools were two matters of much
significance. The exceptional character of the people ; who, in a time
when top buggies were yet a great rarity and much of the land in the county
was yet unoccupied voted upon themselves an indebtedness of $40,000 with
interest at ten per cent, all for the purpose of having a suitable seat of
justice and suitable offices for the county officials, is something that is con-
clusive.

The school matter was also suggestive of a long step forward. As
has already been shown, Nevada had established a regular organized high
school, with a definite course of study, and was beginning to graduate
classes. This was the first high school so organized in this part of the state,
and the first graduation of a high school class in Nevada antedated the
first graduation at Marshalltown, at Boone and we think at any other
similar town about. The example of Nevada was, however, in this
respect not left long without imitation. In due time, Ames organized
its High school, and the smaller towns of the count}', as they
became better developed, did the same thing. This development of the
high school was a matter of profound importance to the youth, not only
of the towns but of the country as well. The high schools in the first
instance, were town enterprises, but they were open to the attendance of
boys and girls from the country, upon the payment of tuition ; and the
privileges thus afforded were eagerly seized. Boys and girls from the
country joined with the boys and girls from the town in filling up the
schools, pursuing the more advanced branches and qualifying themselves
for entry into the colleges, to which many of them later went. In a very
short time the contrast which might have been made with the conditions
in the county ten years before, was very marked. At the earlier time, the

407

408 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

college at Ames was about opening, ami the classification of the students
who first entered and who filled the college for the first few years, shows
plainly that in this portion of the state, there were at that lime practically
no youth whose educational advancement had reached the standard which
is now recognized as necessary for admission to college. The few who did
go to college entered as preparatory students; and the average of the best
public education that was to be had in towns of the class of Nevada or
Ames, was at least two years short of what is now recognized and estab-
lished as the standard for high school graduation. In communities where
educational advantages had, therefore, up to this time, been so restricted,
the inauguration of the high schools in the latter seventies and earlier
eighties, marked a very material stage in etkicational development.

Another educational institution, which in these times became recognized
as of considerable value and importance, was the Normal Institute. Prior
to the latter seventies, it had been the fashion to hold annually or semi-
annually. Teachers' Conventions, at w-hich the more active teachers of the
county assembled and organized somewhat upon a town meeting basis.
But along about the period now under consideration, the Normal Institute
became a school of a few weeks' duration, in the summer, devoted largely
to the review of those branches in which the teachers of the country school
had greatest need of proficiency ; and the opportunity which they afforded
to graduates of the town high schools and to others of somewhat similar
attainment for becoming thoroughly grounded in the rudimentary studies,
was improved by probably the large majority, at one time or another, of
the more ambitious youth of the county. Supplementing the high school,
together perhaps with .some practical experience in teaching country schools,
the normals gave the finishing touches to the schooling of great numbers
of capable young men and women, and were the source of corresponding
profit to those to whom favorable fortune gave the chance to go on to col-
lege. This institution probably reached its maximum of popularity and
usefulness during the ten year administration of Ole O. Roe as county
superintendent from 1881 to 1891, he being possessed of especial talent for
its successful management.

The Agricultural College at this time was also gradually gaining in use-
fulness and prestige. Its standard for admission was about that which it
was possible to reach in the country schools and schools of the towns that
had not yet organized high scIkioIs ; but the students whom it attracted were
likely to be of greater years and exjjcrience than is the case with the aver-
age youth who unw enters college, and the general work of the institution,
therefore, probajjly did not ditler so very greatly from what that work is
today, save of cour.se. that in the intervening years the scojjc of the institu-
tion and its opportunities for choosing l)etween various courses of study,
have been very greatly enlarged. The time was years before the construc-
tion of the Motor Line between .Xnies and the college, and still longer be-
fore the construction of the cinder path over which the youth of the present

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 409

time are wont to pass and save their nickles ; so the relation between the
college and the town of Ames was very much less intimate that it is now.
The students very generally lived upon the campus, and their number was
not so great but that the most of them could find accommodation in the
dormitories provided. The old main building of the college was admirably
suited to the uses of such an institution in the country, and the other homes
and houses upon the campus, which, in increasing numbers, supplemented
the main building as the years passed by, helped the institution to grow
without in any wise impairing its unity or compactness. In these days all
the public exercises of the college were held in the chapel on the main floor
of the north wing of the main building ; and the Nevada young people, who
upon occasion found it pleasant to drive over to the college for a junior
exhibition or similar exercises, discovered that the college chapel and the
college audience fitted each other fairly well. At these college exercises.
President Welch always presided with tactfulness and grace, and the gen-
eral merit of the institution for the purpose of its founding was already
well established.

In the matter of transportation, the event of this period, was the ex-
tension of the Narrow Gauge north from Ames, the absorption of the
whole Narrow Gauge Line by the North-Western, and the conversion of
the Narrow Gauge road to one of standard gauge. The extension north
from Ames was made about 1877, and in the summer of 1878 the line is
remembered as terminating abruptly at a newly built village called Calla-
nan. There was no apparent reason for ending the road at that point ;
but the road had been brought up across the prairie to a grove and work
suspended and the village started. Some time later, when the road was
standardized, and extended to Webster City and Eagle Grove, the railroad
management laid out a new town near by, which new town was Jewell
Junction and Callanan was laid away in the cemetery of prairie towns that
the railroads have failed to support. It was in 1878 that the Northwestern
bought the Narrow Gauge and the conversion of the line between Ames
and Des jMoines to standard gauge was made about as speedily as possible.
It was at state fair time in this year that the writer made, over this line,
his first and only trip to Des Moines and back. The accotnmodation of
the state fair patronage, even though the patronage was but a tithe of the
present state fair rush, taxed the facilities of the road to the utmost. All
of the passenger equipment, and, we think, substantially all of the freight
equipment, were devoted to the purpose ; and the editorial recollection is
clear that a seat on a plank in a box car was something that he was fortu-
nate to get. Our clear recollections of the trip are that the line went
through Polk City and up a rather steep grade on the South side, and that,
on the return trip, there was much chorus singing, and that Ike Hawthorn
led in the ditty, "Go Tell Aunt Rhoda." But it was only a few weeks
after this that the standardizing of the Narrow Gauge began, and this
incident may be set down as one of the matters of more or less humor to

410 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

be related concerning the Xarrovv Gauge. The widening and reconstruc-
tion of the road south of Ames and soon afterwards north of Ames and
extension north, gave Story County its first railroad of consequence cross-
ing the county north and south. Gilbert Station was added to the other
towns that had been establi.-;hed in the county, and the general facilities
for getting away from home and getting back were very greatly improved.
It was along alxjut this time that the more prosperous of the farmers
began to build a better class of farm residences. W. K. Wood had, a few
years before, built his residence south of Iowa Center, which residence at
the time of its erection, was undoubtedly the most pretentious farm home
in the county. About 1878, Frank Curtiss, then one of the most pros-
perous farmers of Milford township and representative of the county in
the general assembly, built on his farm, what, we think, was the first brick
residence upon a farm in the county ; and a year or more later,
his similarly prosperous neighbor, Turner McLain, built another brick
residence and made it slightly larger than the Curtiss one. These two
residences put Milford Townshij) distinctly to the fore in the matter of
farm residences. They also put .Milford ahead of the towns so far as
our recollection goes, and we are sure that it was later than tjiis that Otis
Briggs built the first pretentious brick residence in Nevada ; although, we
think, Oscar Alderman had, about the same time, converted the brick of
the old school house into his house in town. The example of Milford,
however, was followed only with much moderation. The farmers, as a
rule, had about all they wanted to do to pay for their farms, improve their
live stock and put uj) buildings of standard architecture.

LIVE STOCK.

It was about this time also that a very important change was intro-
duced in the matter of raising live stock in the county. The Shorthorn
cattle came to be talked about, and the drove of Shorthorns which Col.
Scott had was a subject of considerable interest, and was looked upon as
much of a novelty. Tlie ditTcrencc between the Shorthorns and the com-
mon scrul) cattle that had been in the county was imjiortant, and is abun-
dantly understood now by everyone who has anything to do with live stock ;
but more important yet was the introduction of heavy draft horses. Prior
to this time, Story County horses had as a rule, been small, as the size of
horses is now' understood ; and interest in horses, where it was at all active,
pertained to trotting stock. Around Nevada at that time, there were
numerous horses of Mamblctonian ancestry or (|ualities, and numerous of
the townsmen in particular, and .>.ome farmers near town, were giving much
of their time and attention to the development of speed in their colts. The
subject gave bent to much of the local conversation, and the nimicrous race
meetings, more or less formal, at the county fair grounds, were occasions
of considerable excitement. The most speetly of this breed of horses was

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 411

a mare that was named Trampoline, and the question as to how fast
Trampoline could go, and whether she would develop so as to take the
world's record from the Goldsmith Maid, was one of the most vivid with
which the local public had to deal. She was a good mare ; but it may be
said, in passing, that she was also slightly dyspeptic and did not feed as
well as she should in order to realize the hopes of her owners and the
confident expectations of the local public. She was taken down east,
where she made something of a record and was sold to advantage ; but her
fame was lost soon after her permanent removal.

While the race meetings were interesting and the hopes of Trampoline
high, the local interest in fast horses was undoubtedly one of the real
difficulties with which the local community had to deal and which it had
to overcome before it could enter upon its ultimate prosperity. The re-
moval of the difficulty began v.'hen a bunch of farmers in and about Mil-
ford, joined together and imported the first French draft stallion. The
importation proved to be profitable to the men who made the venture,
\vi--"'- ^'-" ide^ al=o soread very rapidly that it would be a good thing for
the county to breed a heavier grade of horses than was then to be found
in the county. There soon arose, therefore, considerable emulation in the
matter of such importations, and Black Normans, Gray Percherons, Bay
Clydesdales and Bay English Shires were all brought in, and their merits
were sliarply contrasted and much discussed at the county fairs. The dis-
cussion was not so lively nor the excitement so high as it had been when
the sons and daughters of old "Tramp" used to come down the home
stretch, nose to nose, as they approached the wire ; but there was a lot
more money in it for Story County, and some of the results are indicated
in the hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of fine draft horses that
are shipped out of the county every year. In this matter of breeding
draft horses, Story County seems to have been first in this part of the
.^tate almost as distinctly as it was in its bidding for the Agricultural Col-
lege in pioneer days, or in its voting for the court house and establishing
high schools later on. In all there was demonstrated a characteristic ability
to appreciate really good things and to make them a part of the community.

COUNTY POLITICS.

It was in the period now under consideration that the editor of this
commentary first became an observer of Republican County conventions.
The first convention after we came to the county was that of 1876, but
the boyish interest had not yet been sufficiently stimulated in politics. We
are clear, however, that the main issue of the convention was the nomina-
tion of a new county clerk. J. A. Fitchpatrick, who had been first nomi-
nated for the vacancy in 1865 and had held the office without much difficulty
against all opposition, for eleven years, had concluded voluntarily to retire.
His deputy, in the last years of his service, had been Captain I. L. Smith,

412 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

of Ames, and the latter became a candidate for the place, with the backing
of the Ames contingent. The Nevada candidates were M. C. Allen and
J. R. McDonald, who divided both the Nevada delegation and the Nevada
influence, with the general result that, after some balloting. Smith was
nominated, and thus was enabled to enter upon his ten years of very suc-
cessful service in the clerk's office. Ole K. Hill was renominated, as a
matter of course, for recorder, and S. I. Shearer was renominated for
supervisor. There was no tight in this year over the congressional nomi-
nation, and Judge Addison Oliver, of Onawa, received his second nomi-
nation, without open or latent opposition. Judge Bradley was also renomi-
nated for circuit judge, and it being presidential year, and county politics
having pretty well settled down, and Iowa being that year the banner Re-
publican state in the Union, the Republican ticket was elected without diffi-
culty.

The convention of 1877 was a very good one for a person of political
bent to begin on. It had some hard fighting and protracted balloting. The
leailing contest in the convention was over representative. Dan McCarthy
was a candidate, with the West side support, and the Nevada factions, as
usual, had divided their influence and the delegation, the candidates being
T. C. McCall and T. J. Ross. Frank Curtiss was also a candidate, with
the backing of Milford, Howard and Warren Townships. It was before
the day of open roll call in the county convention, and the ballots were
taken by the jjassing of the hat. It was not ajiijarent, therefore, by the
record, what delegations were supjiorting which candidate, but the number
of votes cast by the larger delegations indicated the situation fairly ; and,
after a time, Nevada got together on McCall, which was a good deal for
Nevada to do in behalf of anybody, but this coalition was not effected soon
enough, if it ever would have done any good, and, in time, the support of
Ixith the leaders was broken up. .A strong movement was started in the
convcntidii for J. W. Maxwell, whose vote grew until it took tirst i)lace :
but the movement towards Maxwell was met by a counter-movement
towards Curtiss; and, as Curtiss had a bunch of nine votes to start with.
he was thus able to lam! the nomination. Jay A. King for treasurer; John
R. Hays for auditor, and J. F. Gillespie for sheriff, were renominated with-
out opposition. The .\mes crowd made what was really something of a
score by nomiii.iting I). .\. liigelmv tor supervisor. Bigelow .served for
only one term ; but he was a very capable officer and much devoted to the
interests of his own locality. So he secured fur the roads leading toward
Ames, appropriations for improvements that were very important for the
roads, and that were consequently of much value to .Vmes. The principal
ligiit in this convention for a county office was that for county sujierin-
tendcnt. C. H. I'.allict had been nominated two years before and had
ousted Jerry bVanks from the sujierintendency ; but Franks hail a genius
for making trouiile for his successor and his plan of operation was to beat
I'lalliet in the Republican convention. This he succeeded in doing,

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 413

there being before the convention quite a field of candidates for superin-
tendent, and uhimately the nomination went to L. B. Baughman, who was
teaching at Iowa Center, but had had relatives at or near Ontario. Baugh-
man was not strongly identified with the cotinty, but he proved to be strong
enough to get the most of the Republican votes, and although Franks was
enthusiastically nominated by the fusion opposition and made really the
one fight that was made in the county in the ensuing election, Baughman
was duly elected along with the rest of the ticket. In the course of this
convention, while the balloting for representative was still in progress, but
after the McCarthy vote had begun to disintegrate, Dan is remembered as
traveling around through the rear part of the court room looking for his
hat, and observing disconsolately but good naturedly that he was more
interested in that hat than he was in the balloting.

In 1878, there were two county conventions and the biggest fight was
in the first one, which was called to elect delegates to the state, congres-
sional and judicial conventions. The issue was over the judicial delegation.
There were contests in the Judicial District for both the nomination for
judge and the nomination for district attorney. The former contest was
of the more general interest; but Story County had concluded to go after
the district attorneyship, in place of M. D. O'Connell, who was voluntarily
retiring, and in the county there were three candidates for the local en-
dorsement. These were John L. Stevens of Ames and S. F. Balliet and
G. W. Dyer of Nevada. Balliet defeated Dyer for the Nevada delegation
and the issue in the county was joined between him and Stevens. When
the convention met it was apparent to the managers on both sides that
the result would probably depend upon the delegation from Grant Town-
ship, which was contested ; and the contest was about as clear cut and
sectional as any that ever occurred in a Republican convention in the
county. Ames had the chairman of the county committee, who nominated
an Ames man for chairman of the convention, and he appointed a commit-
tee on credentials consisting of three men from the west side of the coimty.
This committee reported in favor of the Stevens delegation from Grant
Township ; but the report was rejected, as was also a motion from the
other side to seat the Balliet delegation. The facts of the case were that
the caucus in Grant Township was called in a time of high water, when
Skunk River and West Indian were both somewhat obstructing travel, and
the people of neither side of the township were getting their papers. Also
there appears to have been neglect of politicians on both sides about going
into the township and stirring it up. The call for the caucus, however,
was properly published ; but when the time came, the only person at the
caucus was the township chairman, G. W. Shugart. who elected himself
and two other Balliet men as delegates. Later, the west side of the town-
ship was stirred up by Ames politicians, and a caucus quite representative
of that side of the township held, without notice, and a Stevens delegation
elected. Ultimately, the convention seated both delegations and divided

414 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

the vote between them ; and a ballot, being taken, Stevens won the endorse-
ment of the county by a majority of one. The result was accepted, how-
ever, and Stevens authorized to name the delegation. He did this; and
the delegation, which was representative of the whole county, went to the
convention and secured his nomination, although not without a big fight.
In this judicial convention. Judge McKenzie of Hampton, was the nominee
for district judge. He was a very able and prepossessing man and was
much admired and esteemed, and he had been somewhat famous in the
time of the Atlanta campaign, as being the signal officer, who, on behalf of
General Sherman, signaled from one mountain across the valley to Gen.
Corse, at Altoona, to "Hold the Fort for I a;m Coming." His service as
judge, however, was brief; for he was not in rugged health, and he died
after only about two years of service.

The later county convention of 1878, nominated Capt. Smith for his
second term as clerk, by acclamation, and also nominated Ole K. Hill for
liis third term in the recordership, against opposition. .\. M. Xorris was
nominated as supervisor, and he proved afterwards one of the forceful
men on the board.

The congressional delegates, who were chosen at the earlier convention,
went to Cherokee and supported Carpenter for congress. The other can-
didates were Pendleton of Sioux City and Senator Russell, of Jefferson.
O'Connell had also been a candidate for congress but had been beaten by
Carpenter in Ft. Dodge, where they both lived. There was considerable
finesse about this congressional convention. Owing to the prohibition bolt
from Gov. Gear in the previous year, the governor's vote had been dis-
regarded by the Republican state committee in apportioning delegates to
this year's state convention, and the example of the state committee had
been generally followed by county and local committees. The congres-
sional committee, however, was controlled by the Sioux City faction,
which figured that there were about half a dozen counties in the eastern
part of the district which would lose about a delegate apiece if the vote
for governor was taken as the basis of representation : so the committee
called the congressional convention on this basis, and thereby planned to cut
Carpenter out of just about so many votes. The counties affected, how-
ever, of which Story was one, claimed their full delegations on the l)asis
of the vote for Lieutenant Governor Campbell, and. by a close vote, their
claims were recognized. The votes thus added to the Carpenter column
were important ; and. after protracted balloting, they carried him over
the line. Carpenter had been register of the state land office in the latter
sixties ami in 1871 and 1873. had been elected governor; in 1S78. upon the
creation of the board of railroad commissioners, he had been named as one
of the first board, and his candidacy for congress was well justified by his
ability and experience. He served for two terms in congress, and his re-
tirement by the Tenth District is a very interesting story, which will come
up further on.

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 415

The Republican convention of 1879 was one of the most hotly contested
of any ever held in the county. There was a large field of candidates for
nearly all offices and a compulsory line-up of the two sides of the county,
it being impossible for leading candidates to get the imited stipport-of their
respective sections for themselves, without conceding the same support to
candidates of less prestige for other offices in their same neighborhood ; so
Ames and Nevada went into the convention with nearly straight tickets,
and the margins by which nominations were secured were very small. In
Nevada, there were three candidates for sheriff, and it had been agreed
among them or by their friends that the Nevada caucus should take a
ballot for sheriff and that the delegation should be divided between them
pro-rata, all fractions to go to the benefit of the candidate having the most
votes ; the result being that A. K. Banks went to the convention with four
votes from Nevada ; J. F. Gillespie with two and Z. Shugart with one, the
whole delegation being committed to other Nevada candidates. In the
convention, there were 59 delegates and Oley Nelson was chairman and
made an eloquent speech. It took thirty votes to nominate ; and for rejj-
resentative, W. D. Lucas of Ames got just 30 votes, McCall, as the Nevada
candidate, being just a little short. Lucas, however, had traded too hard
for this nomination, and he was unable to hold his seat as long as a man
of his ability might have been expected to do. For auditor. J. R. Hays
was nominated also by thirty votes ; and one of the stories of this nomina-
tion is that the Milford delegation was instructed to vote for no third
term man, but that Hays placated this opposition by assuring them that
it was not his third term but his fifth term that he was running for. King
got his third nomination for treasurer by a little better margin ; but Ijanks,
after the elimination of weaker candidates, had about four majority over
\V. H. Stevens of Grant. There was confusion also on the superintend-
ency, but Baughman was renominated ; and for supervisor, .\nfin Ersland,
in whose behalf the Union delegation had been diligently trading, was duly
successful. So much struggle in the convention might easily have resulted
in dissension at the polls ; and perhaps a few years before such would have
been the case, but at this time the politics of the county had settled down,
and the ticket was all elected — Jerry Franks making his last run for super-
intendent, but not making great impression.

In this county convention, tlie delegation was elected to the senatorial
convention. Not very much attention was given to the choice of the delega-
tion ; for, after the temporary boost which the .Story representation had
been given by the court house vote of 1874, the natural preponderance of
Boone County in district conventions reappeared ; and Boone had in the
senatorial convention, now to be held, one more delegate than had Story.
Aiter the county conventions, however, it developed that John D. Gillett
of Ogden, who was the Boone candidate for senator, was not supported
by one of the Boone delegates, and the opportunity was thus opened, with
good management, for the nomination of a third Story County senator

416 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

to succeed Geo. M. Maxwell and W. H. Gallup. Lucas, who was fearful
that he might not get the solid vote for representative and was an.xious to
reconcile opposition, was quite anxious to have the senatorial nomination
go to McCall ; and, with his co-operation, there was little difficulty in se-
curing AlcCall's endorsement at the caucus of the Story delegation ; but
the fights in which McCall had been engaged in the county had been such
that he did not readily secure the united support of a picked up delegation
such as was the one from this county in this case ; and, after some scatter-
ing ballots, the Boone County one vote for McCall was compensated by a
Story County vote for Gillett, who thus was nominated and served for six
years, or until he absconded after the failure of his bank at Ogden.

THE NEW COURT HOUSE.

The most important event to the people of the county in this period,
however, was the building of the court house. The controversies over
the merits of the proposition and the contest over the vote having been
disposed of, it having been definitely determined that the court house should
be built, it devolved upon the board of supervisors, consisting of John
Evanson, Walter Evans and S. I. Shearer, to build the court house. They
secured plans from Mr. Foster, an architect of Des Moines, and, after
advertising for bids, let the contract inside of the authorized figure of
.$40,000.00. The contractor is long since forgotten, but it may be said
that he did not make any money on the contract, became financially in-
volved, and by his insolvency occasioned considerable trouble and some
litigation in the final settlement for the work. The actual work of con-
struction, however, was not slighted, and the general results to the county
were highly satisfactorj'. The building was set on concrete footings and
solidly built so that it has withstood the effects of wear and weather far
better than would ordinarily have been expected. The work of excavating
for the court house was started in the spring of 1876 and the construction
progressed satisfactorily during the summer and autumn months. The
inside finishing was done in the winter, and the court room was ready
for use at the February Term of the District Court. The dedication of
the court house was a matter of much felicitation, and a great crowd was
present in the court room for the occasion. Nevada rejoiced, and Ames
was present, through competent representatives, to congratulate. This
was in the winter of 1877.

While the court house was thus complete and thus occupied and dedi-
cated, there was hesitation by the board of supervisors on account of the
financial difficulties of the contractor, about formally accepting it. and the
wish of the supervisors was not to accept the structure until the .settle-
ments concerning its erection could be effected. The weather was pretty
cold, however, and the county officers, in the old frame court house on
what is now the Lockridge residence corner, were not at all comfortable.

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 417

Of course, they had all been candidates for the offices and had been elected
to places in the old court house, and they were doubtless pleased with their
respective successes ; but, nevertheless, they were not at all satisfied to stay
in the old court house and shiver over the hot stove while there were new
offices and pleasant quarters to be had in the new building. Also, it was
reasoned quite conclusively that the court house was built and that it
would be quite impracticable for the contractor, or the contractor's credi-
tors, to take the same away. The county had the structure and might as
well begin using it; so one by one and without any particular order, save
that Air. Hays as the county auditor and clerk of the board of supervisors
had more deference to the supervisorial wish than had the others and was
the last, they all moved over ; and Mr. Hays also moved over soon after
the rest. Thus the court house was not only built, but occupied, and the
people rejoiced over its completion.

THE GLYNDON MURDER CASE.

In this period occurred the trial of Glyndon for the murder of a young
girl in Grundy County. The case was brought to Story County for trial
upon change of venue, after having been for some time in the courts of
counties further east. It was tried here in the fall of 1879, and Glyndon
was found guilty and sent to the penitentiary for life. Glyndon always
persistently denied his guilt ; but the girl had been met upon the highway,
dragged into a field, outraged and murdered, and Glyndon had been in
the vicinity. The circumstantial evidence against him was strong, and it
was believed by the public, as well as by the jury; although there was a
recognized possibility that injustice might have been done him. Glyndon
remained in the penitentiary for thirty years, and was then pardoned.
Aside from the facts of the trial and conviction and sentence, the general
facts known about him were that his name was not Glyndon ; that he was
a veteran of the Civil War, and that he hailed from Columbiana County,
Ohio.

CHAPTER XI..
AFFAIRS IN THE EIGHTIES.

MILWAUKEE AND IOWA CENTRAL.

The early eighties witnessed the construction of two new railroads and
the founding of several towns. The railroads were the Chicago, .Milwau-
kee & St. Paul, which was constructed through the southern part of the
county in 1880, and the Story City hranch of the Iowa Central, which was
constructed through the northern tier of townships in 1882. Both events
were very important to the county, hut the -Milwaukee Railroad, being the
greater railroad, as well as a little the earlier of the two, and going through
a more generally settled part of the county, was the occasion of the greater
interest and perhaps results. The Milwaukee did not ask for the voting
of subsidies as had been the case with all the earlier railroads, that were
projected but never actually built; but the .Milwaukee at this time was
already a very important railroad system having lines in various parts of
Iowa, Wisconsin. Illinois and Minnesota ; and it was the determination of
its management to have a line to connect with the Union Pacific at Omaha ;
so the line was put through without very much fuss, and with a view to
getting the business of territory that was not convenient to existing trunk
lines ; so east of Tama, a route was chosen at a convenient distance north
of the North-Western, and after crossing the Xorth-Western at Tama,
the route was continued as seemed most convenient between the Xorth-
Western and the Rock Island. \'ery few towns of importance were found
along this route ; but the country was as good as other parts of Iowa ; and
the plan of securing the shipments for the agricultural belt along the line
was quite well considered and successfully executed. The route chosen
not only missed large towns ; but, in choosing it, very little attention was
paid to small towns.

At this time, the principal towns in the southern part of Story County
were Iowa Center and Cambridge, and east of the southern part of Story
County was Edenville. The road hit Edenville and called it Rhodes. It
also hit Cambridge, but it missed Iowa Center, and its construction was
followed by the location of Collins, Maxwell and Huxley and also Elwell,
which never got so good a start as the other towns named. While the
railroad management did not ask for subsidies, it was interested in town

418

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 419

lot speculation, and in the location of most of these towns there was con-
siderable of railroad politics. Cambridge had to raise a subscription to
get the depot where it wanted the same; and the men who were most
prominent in business at Iowa Center cooperated in the location of Max-
well and in the purchase of a farm there and the laying out of the town.
The nearest towns to the present location of Collins were Clyde and Peoria
both of which passed out of consideration after the construction of this
railroad, and Collins forthwith became a village and shipping point of
greatly increasing consequence. Huxley was from the start a shipping
point ; but, as a town, it did not develop until very much later. The cir-
cumstance that Palestine Township was divided into independent school
districts, and that Huxley was close to the line between two of these dis-
tricts and was therefore for a long time unable to get a school, was one of
the conditions embarrassing to any hopes tliere of a rapid growth. This
difficulty, however, was in the court of time, overcome ; and since the con-
struction through there of the Electric Interurban Line, Huxley has been
obviously prosperous. Slater was not started until some time later, and
was not one of the original Milwaukee towns. Cambridge, as the oldest
town, would naturally have prospered most from the coming of the road,
and it did prosper in no small measure; but in the days before there was
any uniformity about railroad rates, Cambridge was never a favored point
of the railroad management ; and the advantages which it got were only
normal.

The Milwaukee town that was started with the most enthusiasm and
grew most rapidly was Maxwell. It was founded by men of business in-
fluence and good judgment and large personal and political activity. Also,
it was singularly free from quarrels such as were more or less to the em-
barrassment of other towns ; and, on a smaller scale, it exemplified, probably
better than any other Story County town ever has done, the spirit of sub-
lime local confidence that is characteristic of Kansas City, Seattle and Los
Angeles. Maxwell from the start was a bootning town ; its residences
were good for the time ; its business structures were as well built as could
be hoped for; and in Maxwell men that wanted to run for office had the
united support of the whole community. So the coming of the Milwaukee
offered to the southern part of the county the advantages of towns, good
shipping, additional post offices, and all the general benefits that are to be
expected from the coming of a good railroad into a fairly developed com-
munity.

The Iowa Central Railroad, in contrast with the Milwaukee, was built
for the local traffic. It branched from the main line a little north from
Marshalltown ; but its towns were mostly in Story County. It was not
made for a through line; and. although at Story City it might have con-
necte<:l with the north and south line of the North-Western, it did not
do so, but stopped just a little short; and, in fact, there is no con-
nection between the two roads to this day. It was built in 1882, as a local

420 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

road and through townships whicli in the east half of the county at least,
were largely unoccupied. The townships in the county that had been the
slowest to settle up were Lincoln and Warren ; and though there were a
number of fairly developed farms in both townships, there was in neither
township anything like a community center ; and, in fact, until the coming
of this railroad, there had never been a post office in either township; so
Zearing and McCallsburg, (the latter of which sought to be called Latrobe)
w'ere the beginnings of towns in their part of the county. Howard Town-
ship was, of course, much better settled, and Roland was already a recog-
nized inland village; but the development of Howard Township and the
number of its peoi)le, were then only a suggestion of what may there be
found now, and the same is true, in a much greater degree, of Roland.
There was a store or two, and there was the Star Route post office ; but, of
course, there was no shipping point, and in consequence the village
dates distinctly from the coming of the railroad. The other two towns,
not having the country about them so well developed, did not pick up as
rapidly as did Roland; but Zearing made very good progress, and, after
waiting a number of years for the township about it to settle up, McCalls-
burg did the same. In later years the two have been fairly rivals for busi-
ness and (levcloi)ment ; have both had new buildings and numerous tires
and the general ups and downs of country towns that have in them fair
elements uf growth. Story City was already a town of rccognizetl conse-
quence licfore the Iowa Central came. The Narrow Gauge, which was
afterwards the North-Western, had reached it some live years before; and
when the Iowa Central came also, the town had the benefits of competitive
transportation and was the lirst town in the county to secure such compe-
tition. Its growth from this time on was steady ; and. in the course of
years, it has fairly won the place of third, following Nevada and .Xmes, in
improvements and importance in the county. All of the townships trav-
ersed by the Iowa Central voted five per cent taxes in its aid. While they
paid considerable for the railroad, which there has been little dis])osition
of its management to develop beyond the needs of a strictly local service ;
yet, it has been worth to them all that it cost and very much more, and
has in fact been a condition without which the north part of the county
could not have developed at all as it has.

THE COI.LICGE RUCTION.

In the fall of 1883, there was a ruction at the Agricultural College. The
college at this time was controlled by a board of five trustees, elected by
the legislature ; and, without there having been any apparent purpose to
choose a board antagonistic to President Welch, it came about that at
this time there were three trustees who were positively opposed to him, and
another who was not especially favorable. President Welch had been at
the head of the institution for 14 or 15 years, and had, of course, in this

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 421

time advanced considerably in years. He had considerable private inter-
ests that demanded much of his attention. His position was also one in
which a man; however well qualified and successful, is bound in time to
create troubles for himself, and President Welch, with all his ability and
tactfulness, could not be an exception to the rule. He had survived a
very serious disturbance some ten years before, when the college had been
investigated by a legislative committee, and the conclusion arrived at, that
some moneys had been expended without proper authority, but, neverthe-
less, under the pressure of urgent necessity. In that controversy, it had
been a question whether President Welch or Prof. Jones, who was next to
him in the first faculty of the college, should be forced out of the institution,
and it had finally been Jones that was forced out. After this determina-
tion, matters at the college had moved more smoothly for a long time, and
it was not especially apparent that they were running otherwise than
smoothly when suddenly President Welch was dismissed by the trustees
and Prof. S. A. Knapp, who was at the head of the agricultural part of
the institution, was designated as acting-president in his place. President
Knapp held the position through the following college year ; but his admin-
istration was a turbulent one. The political alliances of Pres. Welch in
the state were very strong. The sentiment at Ames was much in its favor,
although probably local sentiment as to the management of a college is not
so important as outside sentiment and influence, and among the alumni
he had a general and very devoted support. The consequence was a politi-
cal war, which only awaited fair opportunity to become strenuous. When
the next general assembly met, there was accordingly a movement to oust
the trustees who had dismissed Welch. In the state at large, however,
while there had not been a sentiment to demand or particularly suggest
dismissal of Pres. Welch, there w^as a strong sentiment that, he being out
and the controversy having been brought on, the best way to settle the
matter for the interest of the college, would not be to restore him to his
former position. So the matter was adjusted by enlarging the board of
trustees, leaving the anti-Welchmen whose terms had not expired, but so in-
creasing the number of the board that there should be one from each
congressional district. The additional members were named by a caucus
of the Republican senators and representatives from the several districts,
and the result was a continuance of division in the board. It was there-
fore recognized that Welch could not go back, but that Knapp could not
continue. A solution satisfactory to both sides was sought, and the choice
for the presidency fell upon Leigh Hunt, who was at the time superintend-
ent of the East Des Moines schools. He was very successful for the time
in playing both sides of the fight. He had, however, no recognized qualifi-
cations for the presidency of the institution, was not a college man him-
self, and fell very far short of meeting the requirements of the situation.
The Welch and Knapp factions had been reconciled by the appointment
of ex-President Welch, as professor of mental science, and the appoint-

422 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

merit of Pres. Knapp's son. Hermann Knapp. as treasurer of the college,
which jjosition he still holds. I'res. Knapp went to Louisiana, where he
engaged in the sugar industry on a large scale, and continued to be chiefly
so occupied until his recent death. President Welch continued to hold his
professorship until his death in 1889. Leigh Hunt lasted at the college
for about a year and one-half when he abruptly retired and was succeeded
by President Chamberlain, who came from Ohio with e.xcellent recommen-
dations, but who also failed to meet conspicuously the demands of the
state. In 1S91, he gave way to Pres. Beardshear. with whose ailministra-
tion begins the later <levcli>pment of the college.

MOVI.VC, SIIl'.I.DAlir. TO SI,.\TER.

A mixed matter of railroads and towns in this period was the moving
of Sheldahl to Slater. When the Milwaukee Railroad crossed the Xorth-
Western a mile and one-half north of Sheldahl. it made no attcmjit to
locate a town. .\ law of the state, jjassed. we think in jiart for the sake
of this particular matter, re(|uirc<l the location of a station at the crossing
of the roads, where there was no town near on eitlier road ; so a depot
was built right at the crossing, and was known as .^heldahl Crossing. Some
time later, when there came to be thought of a town tliere. the first town
plat was called .Sheldahl Crossing. .-\s the idea develi>i)ed of having a town
of some consequence, however, the name which indicated that tlie town was
incidental to Sheldahl, was no longer acceptable, and the new name of
Slater was chosen. Nothing in particular happened, however, until a con-
troversy arose between the shippers at Sheklahl and the North-Western
Railroad. It was before the days of the Interstate Commerce laws, and the
successful shii)pers, a.s a rule, were those who got sufficient rebates from
the freight charges that they were supposed to pay. One of the circum-
stances of the standardizing of the Narrow Gauge hail been the attempted
abandonment by the North-Western, of Polk City, and the straightening
of the railroad so as to leave Polk City out and cause the location of the
new station at Crocker. The North-Western did tear up the track south
of Polk City, but Polk City having in the beginning voted a subsidy in aid
of the narrow gauge, carried the case to the supreme court, and the rail-
road was com])elled to maintain its line to Polk City from tiie north :
but the railroad did not like the situation and Crocker got the benefit of
the rebates. The fight in behalf of Crocker resulted to the disadvantage
of Sheldahl. which was the next town north, and gradually Oley Nelson
and the other shippers at Sheldahl found that they were facing a situation
that they could not successfully meet, the margin between what their com-
petitors were paying for grain and what they could get for grain in Chi-
cago not being sufficient to pay the cost of carriage and furnish a business
profit. Complaints to the North-Western officials were without result, and
negotiations were opened with the Milwaukee management to move the

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 423

town over to the Milwaukee Railroad. The Milwaukee, of course, was
very glad to get the town and its business, and was willing to offer the
considerations which were usual in the time. Finally, the North-Western
was directly notified that it must change its policy immediately or the town
would move, and there being no advice of a change the deal was closed
with the Milwaukee. After this, the North-Western official car was side-
tracked at Sheldahl in the endeavor to effect an understanding, but the
officials were advised that it was too late.

There followed the most notable move of a town that had occurred in
the county. Arrangements were made so that those who abandoned their
residence or business lots in Sheldahl, should get similar lots in Slater,
and the town proceeded to move. A good trail was laid out across the
prairie from one town to the other; and for several months a passenger on
the Des Moines branch of the North-Western, in passing that neighborhood,
always could see at least one house on the way from one town to the other.
As has been before noted. Sheldahl was in three counties, the main part of
the town being in Story. The proposition to move to Slater was entered
into with much more enthusiasm by the residents of Story Coimty at Shel-
dahl than by the residents of Boone and Polk Counties. The business street
of the town was the county line, and the business houses on the north side
of the street and most of the residences north of the same street were
moved to Slater. The buildings on the south of the street, however, gen-
erally remained, and in course of time some of the lots on the north side
were again built upon. The general effort, however, to make Slater in-
stead of Sheldahl the business center for the Norwegian community in
the southwestern part of the county vvas successful. The importance of
Sheldahl was never restored, while Slater made rapid growth until it had
reached the development which the conditions of the surrounding country
fairly warranted. Slater was thus the last town of similar consequence to
be actually established in the county. The building of the Short Line Rail-
road long afterwards resulted in shipping points at Fernald and Shipley,
but these stations have never developed tlie same importance as the older
township centers. Slater, however, became almost at once, one of the
four principal towns in the south part of the county, and so it promises
permanently to be.

THE INFLUENCE OF FIRES.

In the development of Xevada and Ames during the eighties, the ele-
ment of fire bore its gruesome part. Nevada had, in or about this period,
three considerable fires. The first and greatest of these w'as in December,
1879. It started in a photograph gallery on the west side of the street
and it spread both ways, cleaning out everything from the brick wall at
the east end of the opera hall building to the veneered brick wall on the
south side of Alderman's hardware building. Nevada's equipment for re-
sisting fires consisted chiefly at this time of a hand fire engine, familiarly

424 HISTORY OP STORY COUNTY

known as the "squirt gun;" but this implement undoubtedly made it pos-
sible to prevent the fire from taking the east side of the street
also. Shortly after this fire the town council was hastily called together
and an ordinance passed prescribing fire limits and prohibiting the erection
of wooden buildings inside of the same. This action prevented the erection
of some new wooden buildings on the burned district and resulted in the
district being largely covered in the next two or three years by more sub-
stantial brick structures.

The next fire in Nevada occurred in 1882 and was on tlie west side of
the business street in the upper block. There was not so much here to
burn as there had been in the lower block, but what there was was cleaned
out. The east side fire did not occur until December, 1887, and then it
was shut in between the White and Bamberger and old First National
bank buildings at the north and the Ringheim building at the south. Be-
tween these limits there was a solid row- of wooden buildings and the fire
took all of them excepting the old Briggs building next to Ringheim's,
wliich was saved by ripping out some of the smaller buildings next to it.
This building survived until the row had all been built up again with good
buildings and then one night it got afire and was sufficiently wrecked so
that it had to be torn out.

Following these fires Nevada installed a waterworks system and since
that has been in operation there have been several fires started in the busi-
ness district, but only one building there has ever been burned down. This
one exception was the old hotel building opposite the courthouse, which had
long been unoccupied and which was burned in the early morning of July
15, 1909, without material damage to any other property.

Ames has been more fortunate than Nevada in some ways and not
so fortunate in others. It never has had a fire to clean out an old row
of wooden buildings and to compel their replacements with brick ones, the
event most of this order being the destruction in two fires of the old main
building at the college. In 1887, however, Ames had a fire that was dis-
astrous to the town as well as to the people who lost the property. For
several years there had been on the north side of the main business street
near its east end, a really good opera hall buikling with other creditable
buildings adjacent. This row went one night in 1887 and for several
years thereafter Ames did not have a hall suitable for public meetmgs.
This loss and the others incidental ti> it were of course ultimately rci)laced ;
but when the replacement occurred, it was at the west end of the street
and not at the east end. which has never regained its former relative busi-
ness importance, although in time the burned district has been mostly re-
covered. After this destructive fire Ames imitated Nevada by putting in

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 425

waterworks, since the installation of which Ames also has been exempt from
damaging fires.

THE PORTER MURDER CASE.

In the fall of 1882 occurred one of the most sensational murder cases
that ever happened in the county. It was the murder of Samuel Porter,
a farmer some past middle life, living east of Iowa Center. He was killed
in a family row, and what was never definitely settled was how he came
to be killed and who did the killing. The members of the family who
were at home at the time were his wife, Elizabeth, and his yoimgest son,
John. Also, it was a question whether an older son, George, was not at
home at the same time. The murder occurred some time about mid-day,
and Air. Porter had been at Nevada in the morning and George was over
in the direction of Collins in the afternoon. The belief of many was
that George was at home when his father came and was the one to kill
him in the ensuing row, and that he got ofT the place immediately after-
wards. The story of the family, as finally told, was that Mr. Porter be-
came involved in a quarrel and was shot by his son, John, as a measure of
protection for his mother. After the murder, Mr. Porter's body was
hid in a granary, and later it was taken to a field out some distance from
the house and fixed up with a shot-gun so as to give the appearance of
suicide. Then a young boy, Willie Pointer, who worked some for the
family, was sent out to that part of the farm to herd cattle, with the re-
sult that he found the body. Mrs. Porter and John and George were all
indicted for murder; and when the case came on for trial, George elected
to be tried separately from the other two. These two were tried at Nevada,
and were convicted of murder in the second degree. Afterwards they se-
cured a reversal of judgment, and the case was retried at Toledo, in Tama
County, with the same result, and both times they were sentenced to the
penitentiary for terms of years; but in time they were both pardoned.
When George's case came on for trial, in the fall of 1883, he took a change
of venue to Boone County, where his trial occupied several days, Judge
Reed of Council Bluffs, afterwards of the state supreine court, presiding.
The result of this trial was a compromise verdict, part of the jurors be-
lieving George giulty of murder and part of them believing him not guilty
at all, and the whole splitting the difference by finding him guilty of man-
slaughter. This verdict was set aside by Judge Reed as not being sup-
ported by the evidence, all the circumstances of the case indicating that
either George was guilty of murder or had nothing to do with the case,
excepting, perhaps, to try to help conceal it afterwards. But the verdict
of manslaughter amounted to an acquittal of the charge of murder; so
the case was dismissed, and George relieved of further prosecution. This
trial was the first which the editor of this history endeavored, as a young
newspaper man, to report, and after hearing all the evidence in court, his
disposition was to believe the story of the family.

CHAPTER XLI.

POLITICS I.\ THE EIGHTIES.

Till-; LONG TERMERS.

Perhaps the most characteristic feature of the politics of the county
in the eighties, was the long terms for the county officers, and the ruction
by which a new regime was brought in. In 1880, Harrj' H. Boyes of
Howard Township had been nominated to succeed Ole Hill, as recorder,
and D. A. Bigelow had been retired as a member of the board of super-
visors in favor of Russell W. Ballard, also of Howard. Mr. Boyes con-
tinued in the recorder's office until the end of 1886 and Captain Smith,
who had lirst been nominated in 1876, continued until the same time as
clerk. Their last nominations were contested, but the contests were not
effective. In 1S81, tlicre came in also a new group of county officials,
who with Smith, Boyes and Banks, as clerk, recorder and sheriff, made a
notable combination in the court house. This new group consisted of C.
G. McCarthy as county auditor: 1. A. .Mills as treasurer; and Ole O. Roe
as county superintendent. Mills liad been deputy treasurer under King;
and his nomination in 1881 was effected without serious oi)position.
McCarthy, with the Ames support, defeated Wilbur Hunt, who had been
the deputy-auditor, and Ole O. Roe ousted I'aughman from the superin-
tendency. Banks was renominated for siicriff and continued to be nom-
inated until 18S7. Thus, it came about that the six princijial offices in the
court hoif^c. clerk, recorder, auditor, treasurer, sheriff and su])erintcndent
were without any change whatever from January, 1882, to January, 1887,
making a somewhat remarkable record for continuity f)f ofticial service for
any county. These officials were all of them men with much jwlitica)
capacity, and they were very strong with different elements in the county.
They did not necessarily agree in all things ; but. on the other hand, they
did not fight each other where their personal interests were directly con-
cerned; anri the men of greatest influence over the county were generally
lavorable to the bunch. Tliey gave the county a very capable business ad-
ministration, and they maintained their ascendancy as long as any group of
men could be ex])ected in a county to maintain such an ascendancy.

In 1886, Smith and Boyes were not candidates for renomination. Smith
was voteti for strongly in the convention, but his support was not quite

426

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 427

sufficient to nominate him for the sixth term. The nomination for clerk
that year finally went to Henry Wilson of Ames, and J. M. Ingram of
Sherman was the winner, after a very protracted contest, for recorder. At
the same time, George W. Dyer was nominated with very slight opposition,
as the first county attorney of the county. In 1887, Banks stayed out of
the fight, and Curt A. Wood of Indian Creek was the winner of another
notable battle for sherifif. These were all the changes in important county
offices during the decade ; excepting that in 1889, McCarthy gave up the
auditorship to run for representative, and A. P. King, of Cambridge was
nominated in his place as auditor.

LEGISLATIVE C.-^NDIDATES.

Tlie rule of long service in the county offices, however, did not apply to
the representative position. The convention of 1881 nominated T. C. Mc-
Call for representative. Capt. McCall had served one term in the house
during the war, and had then left the county to serve as Quartermaster of
the 32d Iowa. .After the war, he had been active in most of the political
controversies of the county, and in 1877 and 1879 had been strongly but
unsuccessfully supported for the nomination for representative. In 1879,
as before noted, W. D. Lucas had defeated him, but had rather overreached
himself in doing so, and in 1881 McCall had Lucas so manifestly beaten
that Lucas withdrew from the field and permitted McCall's nomination by
acclamation. McCall was a strong representative, and in 1883, he was re-
nominated, not without some opposition, however, in behalf of Oley Xelson
of Sheldahl, who received the vote of the Norwegian Townships. The en-
suing General Assembly was the one which enacted Prohibition, and Mr.
McCall was active in the promotion of that measure. In 1885, Mr. McCall
yielded gracefully to the two term rule and, by common consent, the nomi-
nation was given to Oley Nelson, who served with much ability and was re-
nominated in 1887, unanimously, save that the complimentary vote of
Washington Township was cast for Geo. A. L'nderwood. In 1889, there
were several candidates for representative, but Mr. McCarthy carried both
Nevada and Ames and most of the outside townships, and was nominated
by acclamation.

During the forepart of this period, the county had been represented in
the state senate by J. D. Gillett of Boone County, who was renominated at
Nevada in 1883 at a convention wherein the Boone delegation voted for
Gillett, and the Story delegation voted for Dan McCarthy, the Boone vote
being the larger and giving Gillett the nomination. During Gillett's second
term of service, his bank at Ogden failed, and he became manifestly
amenable to the law, for which he had himself voted, making it a felony
for a banker to receive deposits, knowing his bank to be insolvent. When
he saw the crash coming, Gillett left the state, and he was next located at
Windsor, in Canada, across the river from Detroit. From there, he sent

428 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

his resignation as senator, and in September, 18S5, a special convention was
held with a view to nominating his successor. Boone, at this time, still had
the majority of delegates, but it was willing to concede the fractional term
to Stor}', and a struggle ensued for the Story County endorsement. Dan
McCarthy of Ames, and J. L. Dana of Nevada were candidates, and there
was much pressure on Mr. McCall to be a candidate ; the latter, however,
finally declined, and Col. Scott came out. McCarthy rallied all of the Ames
influence and much of the south part of the county. Dana, with the help of
the court house influence, which was actually for McCarthy, succeeded in
defeating Scott for the Nevada delegation; but Scott carried the whole
north half of the county and Colo, and came into the convention the lead-
ing candidate. There was long and very persistent balloting; but McCarthy
could not possibly win, and the .Ames vote finally broke to J. W. Maxwell.
When this was done, the Nevada delegation turned from Dana to Scott,
giving the latter the county endorsement and contributing more than ever
was contributed at any time toward the solution of the old slough con-
troversy in Nevada. Two years later, Scott was not a candidate, and Story
County went to the senatorial convention for McCall. Boone, however, had
had its own quarrel, resulting in the endorsement of D. B. Davidson of
Madrid, and Hoone, having the larger number of delegates, Davidson was
nominated. The Story County delegation, however protested quite vig-
orously, and the outcome was the passage of a resolution that, thereafter,
the nomination should alternate between the two counties. This arrange-
ment has been adhered to, and all the senatorial contests since that time in
the district have been in turn for the endorsement of Story County or of
Boone County, as the turn might indicate.

CONGRESSMEN.

Congressional matters in this decade opened with the renomination and
reelection of Gov. Carpenter in 1880 l)y the old ninth district, but the census
of that year gave Iowa two additional congressmen, and by the reappor-
tionment of 1882, a new tenth district was formed, including Story, Boone,
Webster, Hamilton and Hardin Counties and thence to the north line of the
state. Governor Cari)enter, who had been twice nominated in the old ninth
district, and whose home was at Ft. Dodge, was in the ilistrict, hut had a
number of new counties in the district which he had nut rei>rescnted. There
were some very serious post office troubles in the old part of the district,
particularly at Boone and Ames, and conditions were ripe for a fight against
Carpenter. 'Among the results were, that Story County jiresented Col.
Scott; Boone County jjresented .V. J. Holmes, who had been the unsuccess-
ful nominee against Maxwell for Senator in 1871, and who was then state
representative for Boone County; Franklin County ])resented Captain
Benson, who was its representative; Wright County, Mr. Nagel. who had
long been a prominent politician there; Winnebago County, Eugene Secor,

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 429

who was long one of the most prominent Norwegians of the state, and
Cerro Gordo County presented John D. Glass, who afterwards served as
state senator. Carpenter had the delegation from his own county of Web-
ster, and also from Hardin and Humboldt and Hancock, while Hamilton,
Kossuth and Worth were divided. The convention was at Webster City ;
and when the delegates arrived, there was a majority against Carpenter,
but no agreement as to his successor. After much negotiation, the opposi-
tion agreed to go into caucus and nominate a 'congressman, who should be
supported by the entire coalition. A proviso, however was insisted upon by
Glass of Cerro Gordo, whose confidence in his own prospects greatly ex-
ceeded any warrant in the political situation, and this proviso was, "That if,
before the announcement of the ballot in the convention, the Carpenter
force should place to any candidate of the coalition votes enough so that
his own county, by changing to him, could nominate him, his county should
be at liberty to make such change."

Upon these terms, the caucus was held, and after an all night session,
Scott was named. The Carpenter force were advised of the situation and
found that Carpenter was beaten. Then they offered their votes to Benson,
but his county was not strong enough to turn the majority. The only county
in the coalition that was strong enough was Boone, and so ultimately the
Carpenter men determined to vote for Holmes. The Carpenter contingent
in Hamilton, however, did not, upon the roll call, vote for Holmes, but
-•stayed by Carpenter. In this situation, Boone stayed by Scott, whose nomi-
nation was about to be announced when a clerk claimed an error in the
tally, which error was investigated and found not to exist ; and as the an-
nouncement was again about to be made, Hamilton finally changed its vote
to Holmes, and Boone did the same, thus giving effect to the Glass proviso
and nominating Holmes in place of Scott. The change was almost tragic,
after the apparent nomination of Scott, and it ended finally the Colonel's
hopes of going to congress. As before noted, Scott received a consolation
ihree years later in this last election to the State Senate. Holmes was nomi-
nated in 1884 without difficulty.

In 1886 the state had been again re-districted, and Story County taken
from the Tenth District and put in the Seventh ; thus for the first time since
the admission of the state associating the county congressionally with the
southern part of the state. The sitting congressman from the Seventh
District at the time was Maj. E. H. Conger, who had been treasurer of
state, and who later was Minister to Brazil and to China and Ambassador
to Mexico. He was a very strong and popular congressman, but the terri-
tory comprised in the Seventh District was not so strongly republican as
it is now, this being in the time when the republican party in the state was
much divided over the prohibtion issue, and the reliable Republican ma-
jority in Story County was needed to make the district entirely safe; so in
the re-districting, Story County had been put where it would do the most
good. There was some demur in the county about being thrown into new

430 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

]jolitical relalioiis ; but the new congressman was well received, lie was
renominated by the Republicans in the new district and his opponent was
Mayor Carpenter of Des Moines. Cari)enter had a faculty for getting
votes from a good many sources, and lie gave Major Conger a real chase
in the southern part of the district : but Story County made Major Conger's
majority satisfactory. In 1888. there was some maneuvering in the south-
ern part of the district to nominate some other congressman in Conger's
place ; but Polk, Dallas and Story Counties instructed their delegations for
him, and his nomination was thereby made absolutely certain.

Major Conger was consequently chosen to the famous I'ifty-first Con-
gress of which Thomas B. Reed was sjjeaker, and in which he was chairman
of the committee on coinage, weights and measures, and the chief manager
in the house of representatives of the silver legislation in that congress ;
and possibly it is proper here to note that the editor of this history was
clerk of his committee, and his private secretary, while he was rendering
this service. In the forepart of the long session of the Fifty-first congress,
Mr. Conger, having really wearied of congressional service, withdrew his
name from consideration for rcnomination, although the sentiment of the
Republicans of the district was at this time practically unanimous in sup-
port of him ; and in consequence of his withdrawal, the nomination was
opened to Captain 1 lull, who had been secretary of state and lieutenant gov-
ernor, and twice liad made strong but imsuccessful campaigns for the nomi-
nation for governor. Hull was nominated without oi)])osition ; and later
Major Conger, having been appointed Minister to F.razil, resigned, and a
convention was held to nominate his successor for the remaining short ses-
sion of the fifty-first congress. Captain I lull and Polk County kept out of
the contest for this nomination and it was fought out among outside candi-
dates. Story County did not ])resent a candidate, but it had, in Ole O. Roe.
the chairman of the convention. The nomination finally went to Edward
R. Hayes of Marion County, wlm was elected for the short term, and at
the same time Captain Hull was elected for the long term. 'Ilnis it was
that Capt. Hull entered u]ion his congressional service which continued for
twenty years, or until March of tiie itresent year.

INTER.V.XTIONAI, l-IC.HTS.

There were three notable campaigns for the nominaticm for governor
(luring this decade, in which Story County took an active interest. In
1881. the principal candidates were Buren R. Sherman and William Lar-
rabee. Story County jjoliticians were generally for Sherman ; but, in the
county convention they failed to handle the matter according to their e.xpec-
tations, and the delegation as chosen was 7 for Sherman .uul 4 for Larrabee,
and voted thus through the ]->rotracted balloting which re--iilted in the nomi-
nation of Sherman. In 1885, the candidates in the preliminary contest were
Senator Larrabee again. Captain Hull and Judge Given. The two last were

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 431

both from Polk County, and after dividing their delegation there, the fight
extended to Story, where there was also a strong support for Larrabee.
The county convention took a ballot to express its sentiment, with the re-
sult that there was a close division between Given and l-arrabee, with Hull
holding the balance of power. After an interesting debate, in which J. W.
.Maxwell. T. J. Miller and others participated, another ballot was taken, and
the Hull men threw their support to Given, thus giving him the endorse-
ment. Given, however, did not stick as a candidate for governor, but on
the eve of the state convention changed his candidacy to supreme judge.
The Story delegation being thus relieved from their instructions, divided
much according to the original alignment, giving abowt equal vote to Lar-
rabee and Hull. Hull was beaten by Larrabee, however, and Given was
also beaten for supreme judge by Judge Beck. Larrabee was renominated
and elected, as had been Sherman before him, but in 1889, there was
another contest for delegations over the state, the leaders being Captain
Hull and H. C. Wheeler of Sac County. In these days, there was a good
deal of the soldier issue in politics, and also a good deal of the farmer issue,
and in this canvass, the soldiers quite generally rallied for Hull, while the
farmer influence was rather for Wheeler. In Story County, the soldiers
predominated, and a strong and instructed delegation for Hull was elected.
In the state convention, however, the Hull and Wheeler forces were nearly
equal in strength, and the balance of power was held by several minor can-
didates, so that the leaders killed each other ofif. The nomination finally
went to J. G. Hutchinson of Ottumwa, who was defeated in the election by
Gov. Boies. In this first Republican defeat in the state since the pioneer
days of the latter forties and early fifties, before Story County was settled.
Story County had really no part ; for then and in the succeeding years, when
the Republican party was struggling hard for its ascendancy in the state,
Story was habitually the county giving the largest republican majority of
any county in the state.

JUDICIAL CONVENTIONS.

A number of interesting judicial contests occurred in this decade. The
first was in 1880. when the judicial convention was held at Marshalltown
and D. D. Aliracle of Webster City was nominated for circuit judge over
H. C. Henderson of Marshalltown as his principal opponent. A year later,
following the decease of Judge McKenzie, the district judge, a special judi-
cial convention was held at Ackley to nominate his successor, and Hender-
son was this time nominated, although not without a long fight. His prin-
cipal opponent was S. M. Weaver of Iowa Falls, who was afterwards dis-
trict judge and is now supreme judge. In 1882 Henderson was renomi-
nated as district judge, and Stevens with him for district attorney, both
without opposition, and in 1884 Miracle was similarly renominated for
circuit judge. In 1884, however, a constitutional amendment was adopted

432 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

authorizing the general assembly to increase, at its discretion, the number
of district judges in the state, and thus making it practicable to abolish the
circuit court and consolidate its jurisdiction and labors with those of the
district court. At the same time, the office of district attorney was
abolished, and the office of county attorney created. The (General Assembly
of 1886 passed laws in conformity with these constitutional amendments,
and it assigned three district judges to the Eleventh Judicial District. Judge
Henderson, of the District Court, was not, in 1886, a candidate for renomi-
nation; but Judge Miracle was a candidate for transfer from the circuit to
the district bench and District .Attorney Stevens was a candidate for pro-
motion from his office to that of district judge. Other candidates were -Mr.
Weaver of Iowa Falls, Mr. Hindman of Boone, Judge Bradley of Mar-
shalltown, and Mr. Hemmingway of Hampton. There was considerable
combination in advance of the convention among the candidates, and the
outcome of the matter was likely to turn largely upon the delegation from
Marshall County. In that county, the Soldiers' Home issue figured to a
considerable extent. The General Assembly which reorganized the Judicial
System had also provided for the establishment of a Soldiers Home; and
after very extended struggles, the institution had been located at Marshall-
town. Mr. Weaver had been a prominent member of the legislature and
had put Marshalltown under strong local obligations. Weaver was thus able
to beat out Bradley in his own county; and a controlling alliance between
Weaver. Miracle and Stevens was therefore easily successful. In 1888,
Judge Miracle resigned on accoimt of rapidly failing health, his death oc-
curring soon afterwards, and the convention to name his successor was held
at Webster City. Mr. N'agel of Wright County had the largest number of
votes in this convention, but the situation was effectively controlled by the
delegations from other counties having candidates, but quite unable to agree
with each other. The balloting lasted all the afternoon and far into the
night. At one time, Binford of Marshall County was nominated, but votes
were changed away from him before the announcement of the ballot.
Finallv, by one of the combinations that are formed very suddenly in con-
ventions, D. R. Hindman of I'-tmnc was nominated by 39 votes to Xagel's
38. Thn>- Hiiiduian entered uixm his ten years' service ujxm the bench.
In tiie most of these judicial fights. Ston*- County was in the winning
combination, it having assisted in the nominations of Miracle, Henderson
and Stevens and his associates ; but in this last convention, the understand-
ing of the delegation that it was to help Hindman to a nomination when-
ever it could do so, was not carried out, and the final vote was for Xagel.
The judicial conventions of the decade closed in 1890 with the unanimous
renomination of Weaver, Stevens and Hindman.

TWO TKRMS .\.ND OUT.

The great political struggle with which the decailc dosed, was the one
against long terms in county offices, and for the establishment of a two term

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 433

rule. As has been before noted, the court house combination, which in-
cluded McCarthy in the auditor's office, Mills in the treasurer's office, Roe
in the superintendency, and, at various times. Smith, Boyes and Banks in
their offices, was probably the strongest that was ever intrenched in the
Story County court house; but in course of time, there will be popular
discontent against any political combination, and by 1889, the volume of such
dissatisfaction in the county was considerable, moreover it was increased
rather than diminished by McCarthy's success in dropping the auditorship
and becoming a candidate for representative. The Republican County Con-
vention that made the nominations, was substantially unanimous, and, with-
out any appearance of prospective trouble. The Democratic party in the
county was by this time without recognized organization, but an independ-
ent movement was started from the outside, and a mass convention was
held at the court house, and attended by perhaps 30 or 40 men. The move-
ment did not, in its inception, appear formidable ; but the convention was
fortunate in its action, nominating John M. Wells of Nevada for represen-
tative; Oliver M. Johnson, who was then at Slater, for treasurer, and Miss
Hattie Watts of Ames for superintendent. Candidates for other offices on
the regular ticket were not disturbed, including Curt. Wood for sheriff,
who had had a close nm two years before, but who this time was elected
almost unanimously. The three candidates chosen represented fairly the
disafYected elements about Nevada and about Ames, and among the Nor-
wegians, and Mr. Wells was a candidate well qualified to lead the canvass.
The year was an unfortunate one for the Republicans in the state, and
Huchinson was defeated by Boies for governor ; but the local fight absorbed
so thoroughly the attention of the people of Story County that they had
very faint understanding of the general troubles in the state ; and, while
the local vote was torn to pieces, there was a straight vote from both ele-
ments for the state ticket. Still it may be that the disaffection in the county
was of the same order as that in the state, but found simply a dififerent vent
for its expression. At any rate, the canvass was energetic, and the opposi-
tion fought with real hope of success. In the end, the regulars were elected
by majorities of 146 for Mills; i8g for McCarthy and 230 for Roe; but,
though the opposition was unsuccessful in electing its ticket, it did succeed
in establishing the doctrine for which it contended ; for the long term policy
was effectually discouraged. In the following year, the county convention
resolved definitely for the rule of two terms and out, and the rule continued,
without a break, until Mr. Wells himself was in 1908 elected to his third
term as county surveyor. The election of McCarthy over Wells was prob-
ably an important matter in state and national politics ; for, as the matter
proved, the republicans and the opposition had an equal strength in the
state hoitse of representatives, and the Republicans a bare majority, includ-
ing one or two Independents, in the state senate. Senator Allison was a
candidate for re-election before that general assembly, and was re-elected
by a barely sufficient number of votes. McCarthy was for Allison, whereas

434 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

Wells, if elected, would iin<ioubtedly have favored an independent move-
ment in favor of Gov. Larrabee; and it is very possible, not to say probable,
that if there had been a few more votes in Story County for the Independ-
ent Ticket, Senator Allison's public career would have been shortened by
some seventeen years.

CHAPTER XLII.

AFFAIRS IX THE NINETIES.

The decade of the Nineties was ushered in with the biggest boom in
real estate which Story County had yet enjoyed. From the time of the
first entry of the lands of the county up to the time now under considera-
tion, the advance in the price of land had been quite gradual. The county
had been settled and improved, but not until about the beginning of this
decade was the land all actually occupied. Up to this time there had been
considerable tracts in most portions of the county and particularly in the
North-eastern portion, that were still held by speculators who were con-
tented to pay ta.xes and hold the land without actual tillage, for such profits
as was to be had from the general improvement of the country and the con-
sequent rise in value of their property. .\t this time, however, several
things happened. The farms were virtually partitioned and fenced. The
election of Harrison in 1888 and the enactment of the McKinley Tariff in
1890 was followed by a general era of national prosperity, and the migra-
tion to the Dakotas, which had been for several years the most noted move-
ment of population, had been suddenly checked by drouth and grasshoppers.
People who had moved from Iowa to the Dakotas began coming back,
while Illinoisans who had been disposed to jump over Iowa into the Da-
kotas, suddenly conceived the idea of selling their farms in Illinois and
moving to Iowa. The migration from Illinois, which was something new
in Iowa, and the return from the Dakotas, therefore met in a territory
which was already barely occupied. The result was a very sudden apprecia-
tion of Story County lands ; although the price attained would now seem
very cheap, and it was about this time that T. C. McCall, who probably
understood real estate values in the county as well as any man here and
had as high aspirations for the future of the county as had any, and was, in
fact, one of the heaviest land owners in the county, ventured the prediction
that Story County land would, in the life time of people living here, be
worth, all of it, $50.00 per acre. Also it was only a little after this time
that Geo. C. White came from Illinois and bought the J. C. Lovell farm for
$53.00 per acre, this being top notch for Story County land up to that time.
But the gain during the decade, which was thus moderately started, con-
tinued until the end ; so that the standard farm which, in 1890, had been
worth perhaps $40.00 per acre was, by 1900, worth not less than $75.00.

435

436 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

It was a steady improvement, in face of some conditions not so favorable
as those already mentioned ; and the fact that in another decade the value
of the farms has substantially doubled again, has nothing to do with the
proposition that the gain in the nineties was one concerning which the
people of the county had occasion for much satisfaction.

Of the adverse conditions mentioned, there were several. The second
election of Cleveland in 1892 had been succeeded immediately by the panic
of 1893, and a year later by the enactment of the Wilson-Gorman Tariff,
during the period of which there was much discussion as to what was^ the
matter with the country, but no disagreement upon the general proposition
that the country, as a whole, was much less prosperous than it had been for
some years previous, nor would there be a dispute now that in the years
since the country has been more prosperous than it was during that same
period. Also, in 1894 there was, in this part of Iowa and in the Trans-
Mississippi county generally, more nearly a failure of crops than this part
of the country had previously known. The summer was exceedingly hot
and dry, and in the latter part of July there were experienced about two
days of the hottest weather ever known in Central Iowa. The prevailing
temperature of the second of these days was 109, the fact being that a
simoom from the far South-west had reached a portion of the country
that is supposed to be exempt from such visitations. The efTect was wither-
ing upon the corn and other products, and the only people who profited
from it were the few of a speculative turn who proceeded to buy corn on
the Board of Trade, before the brokers who ordinarily milked the country
were able to comprehend what had been happening. The consequent crop
failure coming at the same time as the general low ebb in national pros-
perity, made the period the most difficult wliich the people of this county
had experienced since the pioneer days ; hut the farmers found ways of fod-
dering their stock that had previously been quite neglected, and ultimately
the stock was carried through the winter, and the county withstood the
strain until the' next year. Then conditions were very different as to the
crops, and there was harvested the biggot and best crop of corn which had
been up to that time, or was until quite a number of vears later, ever gath-
ered in the county. The generally jircvailing conditions prevented this
unprecedented corn croj) from being marketed at a satisfactory jiricc ; but
it furnished abundant feed for stock, and the i)rosperitv of the countv was
already coming up when McKinley was elected and tlie Dingley Tariff
enacted and the subsequent noLihle rise in national |)rosperity occurred.

TOW.V IMPROVEMENTS.

During this period Nevada and .Xnies each got something of a boom,
Nevada's coming perhaps a litik- ilie si^iner. and including a new county jail ;
but .\mcs' boom coming perhajjs the stronger. In 1891, 1892, 1893 and 1894
especially, there was a very rapid building in Nevada of modern homes, and

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 437

the general character and appearance of the residential portions of the town
were afifected much thereby. In 1892 Nevada had grown sufificiently so
that a census locally taken showed that it had the 2,000 population neces-
sary for reorganization as a city of the second class, and it was accordingly
so reorganized early in 1893. Ames very soon afterwards extended its
corporation so as to include the college, and with this acquisition, it also
was able to show the necessary 2,000 population and it became a city of the
second class .about a year later. Nevada had previously put in its first
water works in 1888, and Ames followed it with its first water works sys-
tem early in the '90s. Very early in the decade also Ames made another
improvement which was much more important than any previously made
there, and has had more to do with the city's more recent development than
has anything else. Tliis was the construction of the Ames and College rail-
road. This railroad was for the most part a local enterprise, promoted in
the first instance, largely, by Boone parties, but managed for the most part
by Ames people and put through with Ames capital. The rolling stock
with which the road, when completed, was provided was not such as to
arouse the unreserved enthusiasm of the people who used the line, and the
motive power was commonly referred to as the "dinky ;" but the railroad
nevertheless afforded convenient transportation at the five cent rate between
the town and the college, whereas, previously, the transportation had been
much less convenient by bus, at a ten cent rate. A very proper and im-
mediate efTect was the establishment of much closer relations between the
college and the town, which closer relations were to the benefit of both.

It was not, however, until near the close of the decade that the events
occurred, making the most radical change in the relations of the town and
the college. The first of these events was the burning of the north portion
of the old main building of the college, which event made it obvious that
the rest of the building would ultimately go also. The first fire took a
large portion of the dormitories of the institution, and the tmstees promptly
adopted and announced the policy that the dormitories would not be re-
placed, and that as soon as practicable, the institution would go out of the
dormitory business. The destruction of the dormitories, followed by this
announcement, was equivalent to a notice to the people of Ames that they
must provide boarding houses for the people at the college, particularly the
young men students ; it still being the policy of the college to maintain a
certain amount of boarding accommodations for the young women. At
the same time, and following the introduction of what has been designated
as "McKinley Prosperity," there was a sudden and rapid increase in the
number of students attending, not only the College at Ames, but American
colleges generally. The combination of more students and less dormitories
and new and better transportation between the college and town, all coming
more or less together, along with other favorable influences, launched Ames
on a period of growth and prosperity, such as no other Story County town
has ever enjoyed and which few towns in this part of the state have at any

438 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

one time enjoyed. Tlie town has forged ahead rapidly; it has further ex-
tended its territory ; has tilled u]) well its old inhabited section east of
Squaw Creek, an<l l)uilt up a new and prosperous section, west and south-
west of the college.

During this decade also, smaller towns of the county were generally
incorporating, where they had not previously done so. Water-works and
other improvements were introduced in Story City and Maxwell, and prac-
tically all the towns in the county had their municipal government. Street
improvements and sidewalks were multiplied in all the towns, and electric
lights also were introduced in Nevada and .\mes. The county and its
towns together were becoming imjjroved. developed antl modernized.

COLLEGE GROWTH.

it was in the early ninetie^ that the Iowa .Agricultural College was
launched on its second jseriod of devclo|)ment. .\s has been previously
noted, the enforced retirement of President Welch in the middle liighties
had been followed tirst bv an era <it contention and then by another of not
especiallv efficient administration under President Chamlierlain. Early in
the Nineties, however, a new buncli of College .\lumni found |)laces on its
board of trustees, and by 1891, they were ready to atiem]}t a reorganization
of the college. This reorganization called for a new and broader president
and a new and more effective organization of the agricultural department
of the institution. The general scientific part of the institution had grown
steadily and had iK'en perhaps, in later years, typified by Prof. StaiUon
and other professors of considerable standing in the institution, although
not necessarily advanced in years; but the agricultural part of the institu-
tion had never gained the imjjortance that was reasonably imi)lied by the
name of the college, as the "Iowa .Agricultural College." The general de-
mand for the services of the engineering profession was also becoming such
as to make it worth wJiilc to ciupliasizc more the engineering department of
the institution.

So. with a proper appreciation of what the institution ought to be. the
trustees secured the services of Dr. R. M. I'.eardsbear as jiresident and
they also chose as head of the agricultural department Hon. lames Wilson,
l)opularly known as "Tama Jim." of Traer in Tama County, [^resident
Reardshear was possibly young for his promotion ; but. inilike Presiflent
Hunt, he was qualified lx)th by ability and experience. He had been presi-
dent of the small college at Toledo, and from there had gone to the Ruper-
intcndency of the West Des Moines City Schools. He was a man of cul-
ture, broad aspirations, great personal attractiveness and possessed of a rare
gift of understanding and getting on good terms with young people. Mr.
Wilson was experienced in both agriculture and politics. .Mways a Farmer,
he had been s()eaker of the General .Assembly, and congressman and rail-
road commissioner, as well as a writer on agricultural topics. He was

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 439

exactly the man to head the department of agriculture in the institution and
in co-operation with young men of more scientific training to give that de-
partment the standing which such a department ought to have in a state
whose interests are so strongly agricultural as is the case in Iowa. One
of the young men who came in at this time was Chas. F. Curtiss of Story
County, who had graduated from the agricultural department of the college
some years before and was then statistical agent for the state of the Agri-
cultural Department at Washington, and who, later on and before the con-
clusion of the decade, succeeded Mr. Wilson in the management of the de-
partment upon the great promotion of the latter to the position of secretary
of agriculture in President McKinley's cabinet, which position he has
since retained under President McKinley's successors.

The reorganization of the college, under such management, was a matter
of very much consequence; and the institution gained rapidly in the estima-
tion of the state. Its name was broadened to that of the Iowa State College
of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts, and its work was made to correspond
to the name. Under such conditions, the college entered upon a new era of
usefulness, the acme of which, however, was not reached until the before
mentioned flood of new students, came into the college with the re-
vival of national prosperity about the close of the decade.

THE COUNTY JAIL.

In 1890, the county supplemented its construction of the court house
by ordering the building of a suitable count}' jail, and the building was put
up during the year 1S91. The vote for the jail and sheriff's residence was
not, by any means, unanimous ; but it was carried by a considerable majority.
The old jail, which had stood for many years, on the block west of the
court house, had become manifestly inadequate; and the board of super-
visors submitted the question of voting $10,000 bonds for a new one. It
was before the days of the Australian ballot, and by arrangement of both
Republican and Democratic County committees, the ballots distributed
throughout the eastern half of the county were all printed "For fail Bonds,"
and were without the accompanying "Against Jail Bonds" which was also
printed on the ballots for the west part of the county. In Ames and one
or two other places, the vote was adverse ; but the bonds carried in most
of the county. Up to this time, the court house had had but half a block;
but now, by cooperation of the county and the city of Xevada, the south
half of the same block was also secured, and thus the whole block dedicated
finally to the county buildings.

GRINDEM MURDER CASE.

The one murder trial of this decade in tiie county was that of J. R.
Grindem of Roland, for the murder of a man named Lloyd. Lloyd was a

44U HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

drunken painter, who seemed to make it a practice to abuse all the people
around him anil make a general nuisance of himself, and tinally he suc-
ceeded in so provoking Grindem's wrath that the latter went to his room
and punched his head. Lloyd's skull happened to be thin, and he died from
the effects of the punch. Upon the trial. Judge Hinilman presided and was
manifestly of the opinion that the case was one of manslaughter, and the
jury followed in their verdict the judge's evident bias. Grindem was sent
to the penitentiary; but he appealed his case and secured a new trial. Upon
the second trial. Judge Weaver presided, and the tinal verdict was that
Grindem was guilty of assault : and the judge imposed a fine of $25.00. As
the case came to be understood, there was much sympathy for Grindem,
who manifestly had intended nothing but to make Lloyd stop his noise,
which was disturbing all of the occupants of the hotel where the affair
occurred.

STORY COUXTV IN THE SPANISH WAR.

In the S])anish War of 1898, Story County was represented, as nearly
as we can make out, by about two dozen privates and non-commissioned
officers, one Second Lieutenant and one Brigadier General. .Xfter the
Maine had been blown up, and the Board of Inquiry had reporteil that the
explosion destroying it had come from the outside, the already sufficiently
perturbed public feeling concerning Spanish misrule in Cuba swelled into
national resentment against Spain for wanton outrage upon a visiting
American Man-of-war. Upon the declaration of war the State of Iowa was
called upon for three regiments of infantry, and two batteries of artillery.
This requisition did not conform to the organization of the Iowa National
Guard, which consisted of four regiments of infantry, and there was much
difficulty about a readjustment, it being felt on all sides that justice to the
National Guard entitled its members to constitute the nucleus of the Iowa
quota for the volunteer service. After much insistence, therefore, the order
of the war department was changed and the two batteries w-ere dispensed
with, and Iowa was given four Regiments of Infantry. The National
Guard Regiments were officered up to the limit of the regular army organi-
zation ; but they were far below the regular service in number of enlisted
men, and also many of the officers and men were unable to pass the
required examination for the volunteer service, while others were detained
at home by sufficient responsibilities. So there was fair opportunity for the
young men in Story County who wanted to serve their country in the field
to secure admission to the various companies and regiments of the National
Guard, but, in doing so, they became parts of the organization of com-
panies, previously officered, and had substantially no opportunity to become
company officers in the time that the war lasted. The four regiments of the
National Guard had been numbered One, Two, Three and Four, but in
numbering them for the United States service, it was very appropriately
decided to number on from the last regiment of the Civil War, which

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 441

was the Forty-eighth Infantry; so the four regiments of the Spanish War
became the Forty-ninth, Fiftieth, Fifty-first, and Fifty-second Iowa In-
fantry Regiments. These regiments represented generally the four quarters
of the state ; but Story County, having no company of its own, its represen-
tatives enlisted as indicated, and, according to our information, the county
had some representation in each regiment. The larger number appear to
have drifted, however, into Company F of the Fifty-second. This company
hailed from Algona, and it happened that its Orderly Sergeant was known
around Colo, while its acting orderly had been in school at the State College
at Ames. Accordingly the volunteers from the east side of the county
joined this company because of their acquaintance with one sergeant; and
the bunch of college students who had planned to be in one of the batteries
and who were left without an organization when the batteries were dis-
pensed with, joined the same company because of their acquaintance with
the other sergeant. Others from the county, however, for one reason or
another went into other organizations.

It is somewhat notable from this circumstance, that Story County should
have had the only Brigadier General that was appointed from Iowa for the
volunteer service in this war; but the appointment was made upon merit
and upon the practically unanimous insistence of the military organization
in the state. The officer thus honored was Gen. James Rush Lincoln, In-
structor in Military Tactics at the Iowa State College. Gen. Lincoln has
always been, both by talent and inclination, a soldier. A \'irginian by
birth, he had just graduated from the Pennsylvania Military School at
Chester when the Civil War broke out ; and, although a boy too young to
receive a commission, he commanded a company in the Rebel army virtually
from his enlistment to the close of the service, attaining in time his rank of
captain, and being many times wounded in the service. After the war he
came north, lived for a number of years in Boone County, where he was
Deputy County Treasurer, and from the middle Eighties he has been in
charge of the military department of the State College at xA.mes. From
the time of its organization, he has been identified with the Iowa National
Guard, serving in various ranks from captain to brigadier general, the lat-
ter being his present rank. Although at the outbreak of the Spanish war,
he was holding only the stafif position of inspector general in the organiza-
tion, his standing in the same was such as to make him distinctly Iowa's
choice for Brigadier General in the volunteer army. Accordingly he was
appointed by President McKinley and served as such during the war. The
General also had three sons in the war; Chas. Lincoln, who had for some
three years been an enlisted man in the Second Infantry Regulars, was ap-
pointed a Lieutenant in the 24th U. S. Infantry at the beginning of the
war. Also Francis Lincoln was a sergeant in the Fifty-first, served with
that regiment in the Philippines, and in 1899 became a lieutenant in the
United States Cavalry Volunteers. Arthur Lincoln served with the Fifty-
second.

442 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

Of the Story County youtli who voUinteered under the usual conditions
of the service for the Spanish War, we are able to get the names of the
following :

I-'"(>rty-niiith Infantry: C. H. Pasley, Maurice Pearl. H. E. Burkiiart.

{•"iftieth Infantrv-: Will Sjjenccr.

Fifty-second Infantry: J. R. Larson, Ray Wortman, Frank Underwood,
Jerry Heniing. Chas. neniing, "Hruflf" Lewis, Clyde Graves, Franz Wag-
ner, llelland, linge. Whitehead and Arthur Lincoln.

Others who did not then reside in the county, but have since been iden-
tified here, were H. R. Craddick, H. E. Hadley and Cloyd Hockensmith.

The only contribution of the county to the mortuary list of the war was
Milo Corbin, who was serving in the Regular Cavalry, died in the service,
and is buried at Johnson's Grove.

Of the volunteers in the service, those in the Forty-ninth got as far as
Cuba, where they did police duty after the war. The Fiftieth stopped in
Florida, and the Fifty-second was held in camp at Chickamanga. The
Fifty-first, which went to the Philippines and saw the most service, had, as
noted, but a single representative from this county. The only representa-
tive of the county who was credited with smelling gun powder at San-
tiago, was Chas. Lincoln, who received honorable mention at San Juan Hill.
A former resident of the county, who saw service in the war, was .Albert
McCarthy, who had just graduated from the Xaval .\cademy at .Annapolis.
Out of these facts and the general history of the war. it is not possible to
make any story of notable military service by the Story County contingent ;
but the fact is that every one of the boys enlisted with the expectation of
serving his country according to its needs, and they all took their chances
of the service. These chances proved, indeed, to be considerable witii re-
spect to the Fifty-second, which camped at Chickamauga. where typhoid
fever became prevalent and was a much more serious matter to contend
with than either Spanish or Philii)i)ine fire arms; and the fact that the
war closed before the active military services of the volunteers were re-
quired in the field, was due to the inability of the Spaniards to offer effec-
tive opposition to Shafter's .Army, and not to any reluctance or hesitation
of any of the Iowa boys to render all the service that the government would
permit them to render. They took the chance as did their predecessors in
1 86 1 and 1862, and were fortunate that the chance proved not so serious.

CHAPTER XLIII.
POLITICS IX THE NINETIES.

The politics of this decade hardly seems as notable in a local sense as
it had been in previous years. As before noted, Captain Hull got started
in congress at the beginning of the decade and remained in congress through
the whole of that decade and the whole of the next one. Owing to the
agreement between Boone and Story Counties for the alternation of the
senatorship, the senatorial politics had become simplified. In 1891, Mr.
jMcCall was presented unanimously by Story County and was nominated
and elected, thus attaining a position for which he had often been urged.
The honor came to him, however, when he could no longer get from it a
just measure of enjoyment; for his health was failing, and he died in tlie
summer following his first session as senator. The convention to nominate
his successor was held rather unexpectedly ; and the Story County Repub-
lican Committee being called together named a delegation in the interest
of its chairman, H. C. Boardman, whose candidacy was accepted by Boone
County and he was elected and represented the county in the following
session.

In 1895, the senatorship went, by common consent, to Boone County,
which agreed upon C. J. A. Erickson. Mr. Erickson served his term very
satisfactorily, and was after a four year interval returned to the senate for
another term. In 1899, the nomination was again conceded to Story County,
which presented J. A. I'^itchpatrick, and he was also nominated and elected,
returning for his second term after the second term of Senator Erickson.

Judicial matters during this period had also become less sensational, the
truth being that the arrangement to nominate tin-ee judges at once was
more favorable to efifective combinations and easy nominations than was
the old one of nominating one judge in one convention and having a big
scrap among the candidates from many counties for the one nomina-
tion. In 1891, Judge Stevens resigned under circumstances which made it
practicable for Governor Boies to appoint the only Democratic judge that
has served in the district since the retirement of Judge McEarland in the
middle fifties. Boies appointed X. B. Hyatt of Webster City, who served
until the republicans in 1892 could nominate and elect Ben P. Birdsall of
Wright County to supersede him. In 1894, Weaver, Hindman and Bird.sall
were all renominated at Webster City, although Story and Marshall Coun-

443

4J4 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

ties sought to open up a contest for Hindnian's place. These three judges
served without any death or resignation for their full term, at the end of
which in 1898, the convention was held in Iowa Falls, where Weaver and
Birdsall were again nominated by acclamation, and J. R. Whitaker of
Boone was nominated as the third judge, in spite of the efforts of Story
County to secure the place for G. W. Dyer. During this time, Marshall
County had tired of its relations with the Eleventh District and had been
set off into another district with Tama and lienton Counties.

The county liad several representatives during this decade. In 1891,
the nomination was given to A. L. Stuntz, who livetl near the county line,
west of State Center, he being a quite representative farmer, and he was
renominated over some active opposition in 1S93. In 1895, the represen-
tative was J. F. Reed, who had served two terms successfully as county
superintendent and been chairman of the Republican County Committee.
He was an active politician, and after one term in the General Assembly,
he became an agent in the United States Revenue Service, where he has
since remained. In 1897, he was succeeded in the legislature by \V. I.
Veneman, who was nominated in a lively primary fight over F. C. McCall,
and was renominated, without opposition in 189(7.

The county politics of the decade began with the adojition of a two
term rule, following the ruction of 1889. The big fight of the convention
of 1890 was for County Clerk, for wliich place C. -M. Morse of Ma.xwell
was ultimately the winner, and M. C. Duea of Roland was easily nominated
for Recorder, as was also M. V. Webb of Slater for County Attorney.
In 1891, there was a fight over many nominations, the old set of officers
having voluntarily retired. A. P. King received his second term as Auditor,
without opposition: but T. J. Miller, for Treasurer; O. G. Ashford, for
Sheriff; and J. F. Reed for Superintendent, were nominated after strenu-
ous contests. The convention of 1892 was characterized by the renomina-
tion of second termers, and in 1893, the principal contest was for Represen-
tative, resulting in Stuntz' renomination.

In 1894, there was another fight along the line. The men who had been
nominated in 1890 on the two-term platform did not yield readilv to the
rule under which they had been first nominated, and they put up a fight
to break the rule. There were numerous other candidates, however, and
the old officers were eventually thrown out. The new ticket included Chas.
Hamilton, of Ames, for Clerk; D. M. Grove of Nevada, for Auilitor;
Anfin Ersland, of Cambridge for Recorder; and F. D. Thompson of Ne-
vada, for County Attorney. In 1895, there was the la.st big convntion
fight in the county. Reed was nominated over a field of candidates for rep-
re.sentative ; Henry T. Henryson, for Treasurer; and Geo. W. rhillii)s for
County Superintendent. A. K. Ranks was able to return to tlic Sheriff's
Office, where he had served eight years previously and been out eight vcars
.ind was now to serve for four more; and the convention made a joke of
the coronership by nominating Ilarn.- llazlett of Collins; al.so the conven-

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 445

tion wrote the word "tinis" to the most interesting matters of the Conven-
tion History of the County hy adopting the primary rule for subsequent
nominations.

The first county primary was held in i89(), but did not arouse anything
like the interest which, in later years, has characterized republican primaries
in the county, nor did any of its successors until 1899. The main fight in
1896, was for County Attorney, the nomination for which was won by
D. J. X'inje over E. H. Addison and A. L. Bartlett. In 1897, was the
\'eneman-]\IcCall fight for Representative; and in 1898 was the contest of
the three Johns for Supervisor. They were John Evanson, John Twedt
and John Johnson. All three were representative Norwegians of high
standing, and they were disputing for the place on the board which was con-
ceded to the Norwegian element of the party. Evanson had been super-
visor years before when the court house was built. Johnson was ending
two terms of very exceptionally capable service upon the board, and Twedt
was a new man looking for his share of political honor. They divided the
vote well between them, but Twedt was nominated. In 1899, the primary
system got its best start in the county, with some real fights and more gen-
eral interest than had ever previously been manifested, and with the result
of getting out a little larger vote than has ever since been polled at a pri-
mary election in the county, the total being very nearly 4,000 votes.
There were four candidates for senatorial endorsement ; Fitchpatrick and
Boardman ; Nelson and Greeley, all four of whom had or have at one
time or another, served in the General .Assembly from the county. They
were together able to divide the county into its four most definite parts ;
viz.. two parts of Nevada and of the parts of the county likely to go with
Nevada ; one of Ames, and one of the Norwegians. It was a record-
breaking fight, and Fitchpatrick won over Greeley by 33 votes, while
Boardman was ten aliead of Nelson for third place. Hardly less strenuous
w-ere the fights for Treasurer. SherifT and Superintendent, which resulted
in the nomination of Geo. A. Klove for Treasurer; H. R. Boyd, as a dark
horse, for Sheriff, and Fred E. Hansen for Superintendent.

The great political event of all this decade, however, was the .McKin-
ley campaign of 1896. It was a campaign in which the people of the county
engaged with a fair share of the uncertainties of the opening scenes and
with proportionate strenuousness later, and enthusiasm at the close. Iowa
had supported Allison for the Rejjublican nomination for president, but
had accepted McKinley with readiness. The Democrats, on the other liand,
were very largely of the Free-Silver variety ; and when Bryan was nomi-
nated, following his speech on the "Cross of Gold," they rallied to him
with great enthusiasm. At the same time, those Republicans who had been
disposed to favor independent movements at one time or another were im-
pressed, as were their fellows elsewhere over the country, with the idea
that the proj^er remed\- for the existing national distress was in the cheapen-
ing of the money rather than in the restoration of the system of the protec-

446 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

tive tariff. The question as to what was tlie matter became a vital and
personal one with a very large number of voters; and in the early stages
of the campaign, those who were ordinarily looked to as sources of political
information, found themselves more fully occupied than had ever been the
case in their lives before. It was a time when almost anyone who could
and would talk, could draw a crowd; for people were generally wanting
light on the subject under discussion. Even if they were not doubtful in
their own general position, they were looking for argimients with which to
fortify themselves or to make a better impression upon other persons in
their own disputations. The summer was a good one, not too hot to be
comfortable, and warm enough to make the shady side of the street a pleas-
ant place; the prevailing standard of industrial and business activity was
not such as to require the undivided attention of a great many of the people ;
and there was therefore time, as well as disposition, for the argiunentation.
The speaking campaign started before state committees could arrange
for it; and in Nevada, the earliest large meetings were addressed by Editor
Lafe Young and Major Conger. In September the principal Republican
rally at Ames was addressed by Congressman Lacey. and in October, what
was intended as the leading Rciniblican rally of the season for the county
seat and county was held at Nevada, and was addressed by Mr. I.. M.
Shaw of Dfenison, Congressman llnll and .\"at Coffin of Des Moines. The
participation of Mr. Shaw in this rally was a matter of considerable politi-
cal importance in its net results. Mr. shaw was new in the political field,
and had never made a political .speech until tliis campaign, luirtlier the
speeches which he had made in this cami)aign had. for the most part, been
in out-of-the-way places ; and the one siieech which he had made in the
McKinley tent at Des Moines was delivered on a rainy u\^\i\ wlicn the at-
tendance was very small ; so it came aliout that his tirst real chance for a
notable public effort was afforded him at .Nevatla, where some friends and
favoring circumstances had secured him this opening. He came with ilie
expectation on the part of many that his speech would be good. l)ut with-
out there being any general interest save in the campaign itself, as to
which there was all the interest that there was any occasion for. He began
speaking in the opera hall at half past nine, after the crowd had had a
torch light parade and an hour's si)eech by Congrc-i-man Hull; and it is to
be recorded that at eleven o'clock, he still had all the crowd that could
occupy the seats and stand in the aisles, still calling for more. It was a
speech full of information and argument; and, after many years of obser-
vation and experience, it is still the editor's opinion that this was the best
political argmnent that he ever listened to from anybody. Before Shaw's
speech was ended men sitting on the platform had resolved to help him
politically when they should get a chance; and so when, in the following
year, he became unexpectedly a candidate for Governor, Story was the first
county in the state, away from his own, to rally to his support, and so to

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 447

give him the standing which he needed to get started in his fight; but this
is running ahead of the story.

The striking feature of the 1896 campaign was the general participation
of the people in the argument ; and so far as the county seat was concerned
the argument continued through the last half of July and the month of
August ; until finally some one threw a bucket of water from the top of a
business building onto the crowd; and somehow after that, the ardor of
the discussion appeared to be dampened. The truth was that the people
had had enough. Tliey had found out where they stood ; and it was all
over but the shouting, which continued with increasing enthusiasm up to
the end and culminated on election night in the most enthusiastic after-
election demonstration ever witnessed in Story County or anywhere else.

Referring more particularly to the Shaw candidacy for Governor in
1897, besides his political speech before mentioned, Mr. Shaw had been the
principal speaker at the dedication of the Methodist church in Nevada,
and he had been two or three times a delegate from this conference to the
Methodist General Conference ; so he had more acquaintances in the county
than his speech alone would have accounted for ; but the controlling fact in
the county was the disposition to get behind a public man who had talked
for the gold standard of currency as clearly and directly as he had talked ;
so when Governor Drake dropped out of the canvass for renomination,
and the field was opened to the field of new candidates, after the Story
Delegation to the State Convention had been elected, conditions were favor-
able for an efifective movement in the county in Shaw's behalf, .\fter
Shaw's nomination and election, therefore. Story County had the satisfac-
tion of being generally regarded as the county which had been foremost in
bringing out a successful dark-horse governor. It would be difficult to
point out, in Mr. Shaw's after career in the governorship and in the treas-
ury department at Washington, any notable recognition of the service so
opportunely rendered to him; but his friends in the county had the satis-
faction of having rendered the service, and of having thereby assisted to his
high position a statesman who. in such position, was a most conspicuous
exemplar of the financial and tarifl^ policies which the county has habitually
supported.

CHAPTER XLIV.

THE LAST DECADE.

The last decade of Story County History and the first of tlie Twentietli
Century may fairly be said to be the one in which the people of Story
County have come into their own. In this decade there has been very much
more gain in wealth and in the general improvement of the county than in
any similar period before. The value of the farms has. in this decade,
substantially doubled ; and the general success of farming as a business has
been without precedent in this part of the country. The situation has con-
trasted sharply with that of pioneer days, when such wealth as there was
was mostly in the towns, and the occupants of the farms were generally a
struggling class of peoiile. In these latter days, the farmers who have
owned their own farms, have gained very rapidly and obviously in wealth
and have expended their gains freely in the improvement of their proper-
ties ; whereas, towns have been dealing with less favorable conditions —
among them, the inequitable taxation of money and credits, and the tax
ferret law. the former of which has now been modified and the latter
repealed. What the farms have lost in the decade has been largely the
result of successful tenants moving to other states where they were able to
buy land of their own. while the towns have lost from well-to-do people
moving to California and elsewhere w-ith a view to escaping burdensome
taxation ; nevertheless, the (owns have visibly improved.

CITIES AND TOWNS.

In the fore part of the decade, this was truer of Ames than of Nevada
or ])erhaps any other town. As has been previously noted. .Ames had pro-
gressed notably during the prior decade, its progress beginning with the
construction of the .\mes and College Railroad and being followed a.- .soon
as practicable with the construction of water works and electric light plant
by the citv and bv the extension of the city limits to include the college.
It was not until near the close of that decade, however, that there occurred
the t'lr^t tire at the main building of the college, which fire was followed
after a time by the manifestly incen<liary burning of the rest of the old
main building. Tlie dormitories of the college being thus destroyed, the

448

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 449

town started to building boarding houses, and the buihhng of boarding
houses required the moving in of mechanics in the builcHng trades. Also
an increasing number of people moved to the town with the view of afford-
ing to their children the advantages of the college, and from these same
families there came also a largely increased attendance at the local high
school. School and college and town therefore grew together and grew
rapidly ; and finally the construction of the electric interurban road and
its absorption of the Ames & College road have brought town and school
yet closer together and given both much improved outside connections.
In this time. Parley Sheldon, as the mayor most frequently and persistently
favored with the confidence and votes of the people of the city, gained
recognition as an especial promoter of munici])al improvement ; and. under
one of his administrations, the city became in 1904 the first in the county
to install a sewer system. This was at first constructed for the downtown
part of the city only ; but it has been from time to time extended, and at
the close of the decade, the second considerable system was constructed
for the newly developed portion of the city, west and south-west of the col-
lege ; also paving for the principal streets and broad sidewalks of urban
style have had a very notable effect upon the city's development.

For over a quarter of a century Parley Sheldon has stood as the firm
friend, and constant champion of the Iowa State College of Agriculture and
Mechanic Arts located at Ames. At no time connected with it in an official
capacity he has been able to render it inestimable service during these
years of its development into the greatest institution of its kind in the
world. His time, his thought, his purse and his influence have always
been at the command of any movement which meant better things for the
college and its people.

Entire freedom from official connection with the college has made it
possible for him to render innumerable services to the student body, the
faculty and the governing board which one officially connected could not
and one less generous would not perform.

All connected with the College have a profound respect for Parley
Sheldon and a deep sense of obligation to him for his continued and con-
sistent loyalty to the institution.

Nevada did not get its fresh start until later in the decade ; although
it was early in the decade that it finally secured its cross railroad, but
later came the Adventist Sanitarium, the Adventist State Headquarters,
the Adventist .Academy, the Rock Island absorption of the cross railroad,
and finally the order by the city counsel for the construction of a compre-
hensive sewer system. These larger gains, moreover, have been attended
with the full measure of incidental and minor improvements, and the
town has probably never felt its prospects to be better tlian they are at
the present time.

The Nevada sewer project has been mooted for some time; and in
April, 1909, a proposition to issue $20,000 in bonds for sewer outlet and

450 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

disposal, was voted down ; also the city council elected at the time regarded
the matter with inditTerence; but, after some time and after one or two
changes in the membership of the council, the situation was altered, and
early in the present year, a resolution of necessity was passed by the coun-
cil for a sewer system. The matter, however, had been delayed until elec-
tion was near, and in the ensuing city election, questions of detail as well as
of the general policy were thrashed out. The general result was that the
sewer proposition was endorsed ; and the sanitarium having offered
$1,000.00 it the outlet should be changed so as to afford connection to
the sanitarium and the academy, the desired change was agreed to. A new
resolution of necessity was passed, the sewers ordered in accordance there-
with and contracts entered into for the construction of sewer, sewer outlet
and disposal plant at an initial cost exceeding $30,000.

While Story County has only two cities, and while these cities by reason
of their better start and recognized advantages may be expected to main-
tain tiieir superiority in numbers and various other respects over the
smaller towns of the county, it should be definitely set down that one of
the respects in which Story is an exceptionally good county, has to do
with its minor towns. It is a very long time since Story County has had
all of its interests concentrated in a single place. There are numerous
counties in Iowa in which there is one city of considerable consequence
and no other town to be considered at all. But such is not the situation
in Story. The advancement of Ames by the cross railroad and the col-
lege enabled it to become a rival of Nevada, the county seat, and the
rivalries of these two towns have made easier the development of other
towns. Also the fact that other railroads, when they did come, failed to
radiate from a common center hut rather crossed the county in parallel
lines, has been a condition favorable to the outside towns. Indeed, it
was a real blow to Nevada when within two years of each other in the
early '80s the Milwaukee railroad was l)uilt through the south pan nl tlic
county and the Iowa Central through the north i)art. Iliese roads did not
touch Nevada nor contribute anything to it. Uut, on the contrary, they
cut off territory, developed .some villages and established new towns.
Some of these towns, located as they were in go<xl territory and not too
convenient to a larger town, have had an opportunity to grow such as is
not vouchsafed to outside towns in many other counties. When all of
these matters are considered, it would ajipear that Story County ought to
have some good outside towns and that really the inhabitants of such
towns have had the responsibility of making good.

Of the outside towns the first ])lace has been fairly won by Story
City. It has a population not far from what Nevada and Ames had twenty
years ago. Hut it is much better imjirovcd than they were at that time.
When the town was laid out, a sentiment of public spirit caused the laying
out of exceptionally wide streets ; and though the time was when some
of these streets were convenient pastures, they are now a conspicuous

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 451

feature of the town's beauty. Its business district is well built up and its
homes give evidence of wealth and taste. The town has long had water-
works and electric lights ; it has perhaps the largest department store in
the county and it unquestionably has the best public park in the county.
Maxwell shares with Story City the distinction of having one of the two
third class postoffices in the county. The postoffices at Ames and Nevada
being second class and the four being all there are of presidential rank.
The postal business is suggestive of the general activity of the town
which has habitually been characterized by its push. It has had its share
of fires and is in considerable part, well built ; and it has its share of hand-
some residences. It has waterworks and an acetylene gas plant. Prob-
ably the wealthiest of the smaller towns in proportion to its population is
Roland which is also well built, particularly as to residences and churches ;
and the casual visitor is surprised at the amount of its cement walks.
Roland has recently voted, almost unanimously, to spend $10,000 for
waterworks and $8,000 for electric lights. Cambridge had its best boom
when its two new railroads were being built early in the decade. It has
electric lights, good business buildings, good residences and a general ap-
pearance of prosperity. In Palestine Township there are too many towns
to give any one of them all the chance it might have, but Slater has been a
good town from the time it was established and Huxley has prospered
notably since the interurban railroad came. Colo, Collins, Zearing and Mc-
Callsburg are all of them business and social centers that are improving
steadily and that will continue to improve as time progresses and the sur-
rounding country grows richer. Gilbert Station and Kelley have the dis-
advantage of being rather close to Ames, as are Fernald and Shipley to
Nevada, but the first three of these four towns are progressing obviously
in spite of all their difficulties. Iowa Center is the one town in the county
which maintains its existence off from any railroad ; and while in this
age it is impossible for any town to grow under such conditions the per-
sistence of the village is not to be overlooked. Practically all of these
towns have telephone exchanges and the three or four not so equipped
are supplied with rural lines from larger towns. They are all knit to-
gether with connecting toll lines and maintain closest touch with the sur-
rounding country by means of their rural lines. They are a splendid lot
of towns and the past decade has counted with them greatly.

THE ADVENTIST INSTITUTIONS.

The coming to Nevada of the Adventist Institutions has been a notable
matter. From near the beginning of things in this community, there
has always been an element of Seventh Day Adventists ; but in the inter-
mediate years their organization had been di.stinctly less active than it
was back in the Seventies. Their number and standing, however, was such
as to afford to them real influence in the organization of their denomina-

452 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

tion : and when the management of the denomination proposed, for reasons
good and sufficient from their own point of view, to take out of the city of
Des Moines the Iowa Sanitarium, which was their chief denominational
institution in the state, the Nevada contingent suggested that the institu-
tion be brought to Nevada. Of this Nevada contingent, it is proper liere
to make personal mention of Mr. J. .M. Whitney, a retired and wealthy
farmer, who was a member of the state executive board of the sanitarium.
Largely at his insistence, in the fall of 1907, some of the officials of the
institution came to Nevada to look the situation over, and negotiations
for the removal of the sanitarium were instituted. These negotiations,
however, did riot result definitely, and in the following spring a fresh
start was made. The sanitarium committee came up to Nevada and
various locations were shown to them. Finally, however, they ])icke<l out
a location on their own motion, different from any that had been sug-
gested to them and much better than any that had been so suggested. This
location was on the hill immediately south of the city, in a place ordinarilv
difficult to reach from town because ; there was no bridge near it over the
creek; but it was easy enough to get to when once a suitable bridge was
buih. Being very much pleased with the location they had found, tlie
committee made definite proposal that if the city would raise $15,000. give
them a road, and get the county to build a bridge, they would move the
sanitarium and put up a building to cost not less than $50,000. The local
.subscription was raised within a week, and fifty-five acres of the desired
ground purchased. The road was built, and the bridge also; and the
Adventists more than fulfilled their agrccniciit by jiutting up a sanitarium
building which cost $75,000.00.

Incident to the location of this institution, the .\dventi--ts moved to
Nevada the headquarters of their denominational organization; purchased
for its uses a residence property between the court house and the city
park, and following the two removals, members of the denomination from
various ])arts of the state, began to move to Nevada. The ground for
the sanitarium building was broken in the fall of 1908. and the building
was dedicated about tlie 1st of Seiitember, 1909. The denominational
camp meeting bad been held on the sanitarium ground just before the ex-
cavations were begun, and the second camp meeting was in progress at
tlie time of the dedication. The two camp meetings familiarized the de-
nomination in tlie state thoroughly with tlic denominational acquisition, and
the action of tlie managing board was endorsed with enthusiasm and
unanimity. The institution itself has proved to be all that it was repre-
.sented to be and more, and commands recognition as the best of its class
in tlie state.

Incidental to the location of tlic sanitarium and of the denominational
headquarters and of the removal to Nevada of many .Adventists, a senti-
ment grew up in the denomination for the removal to Nevada of their
academy, which has been at Stuart in Guthrie Countv. This sentiment

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 453

found definite expression at a state conference in Nevada early in the
present year; and after various negotiations and the receipt of propositions
from some other towns, the definite offer was made that, if Nevada
wotild raise $5,000 for the purpose, the academy would be removed to
this city. The money was raised in April of the present year, and the
academy is now being built." It will be a fine building on the hill west
of the sanitarium, both institutions being south of the city and of the creek,
and the general progress which its erection suggests is typical of the situa-
tion.

THE COLLEGE.

The Iowa State College in 1902, suft'ered the very great loss of the
death of President Beardshear, under whose administration, the college
had made very great progress and was assured of even greater progress
in the future. Not only had the college grown in numbers both of students
and of faculty ; but it had been actually benefited by the enforced aban-
donment, so far as the boys were concerned, of the dormitory system,
and the state had reached the point where it was willing to provide means
for the erection of what might be regarded as permanent buildings at the
college. To put the matter upon a permanent basis, a special tax of i/'io
of a mill was levied for the benefit of the institution for building purposes,
and this levy was subsequently increased to 2/10 of a mill. The fund
thus provided was one which enabled the management of the college to
figure upon for several years ahead and to make their building plans ac-
cordingly. Also, this fund was supplemented by direct appropriations for
building purposes, and the funds for support were also increased. Out
of the millage tax and the special appropriations, the trustees proceeded,
in fact, to build a new sort of buildings. These buildings were of modern
construction, fire proof, stone on the outside ; brick, iron and tile within,
and such in fact as should be regarded as permanent additions of
the first order to the equipment of the institution. The first of these
stone buildings erected at the college was the Engineering building, which
was followed shortly by the new Central building on the site of the Old
Main building, and later on the east end of the cam]nis, facing the Central
building, was put up the magnificent Agricultural Hall, with its annex of
an auditorium on the east side. Other buildings, less imposing antl ex-
pensive but equally adapted to the uses of the institution, have followed
upon various parts of the campus, and the general character of the in-
stitution has been greatly advanced. All of this progress was fairly
started or well assured when the president who had been the inspiration of
a great part of it, suddenly dropped by the wayside. President Beard-
shear was not only the head of the Iowa State College of Agriculture and
Mechanic Arts ; but he was also for the time being, president of the
National Educational Association, having been, we think, the only citizen
of Iowa ever to attain this particular honor. The association met in the

454 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

summer of 1902 at .Minneapolis, and for that occasion Dr. Beardsliear had
prepared a suitable address. When the time came, he was in attendance
upon the convention, but was unable to deliver his address and had to
have it read by another. He came home from the association a sick man
and died soon afterwards. His place at the head of the college was filled
for the ensuing year by Prof. Stanton as acting president, and a vigorous
contest entered on for the choice of the permanent succession. The older
alumni, generally, asked the continuance of Prof. Stanton, while the agri-
cultural interests of the state, recognizing the especial service of Prof.
Curtiss at the head of the agricultural department of the institution, de-
sired his advancement to the presidency. In the ultimate the board of
trustees divided too closely to make the choice of either practicable, and
Dr. A. B. Storms, a Methodist Divine of Des .Moines, was chosen as a
compromise. Dr. Storms was an able preacher and a man of notable
culture. L'nder his a(lniini>tration. the impetus which had been gained
under the Heardshear regime was not lost, and the cullegc contiiuied to
prosper, as has been noted. In 1909, the general assembly ])laced the col-
lege, along with the state university and the state normal school, under
the management of a single board of education, which board soi'iewhat
speedily found occasion to call for Dr. Storms' resignation, and he .'i-
cordingly retired in September. 1910, after a service of seven years. The
state board of education, like the earlier board of trustees, however, found
much difficulty in tilling the vacancy. They spent several months upon
the proposition, and then placed Dean Stanton again in charge as acting
president, which position he continues to hold pending tlie efforts of the
state board to reach a conclusion as to another permanent president of
the institution. Troubles about the president, however, have had little
to do in late years with the ])rogress of the college. The institution has
grown to be altogether too large and great and has too strong a hold
in the confidence of the people of the state, and is looked to with t-io
much interest by the youth of the state, and is too well supported in the
matter of appropriations by the general assembly of the state, for its
growth and usefulness to be effectively retarded. Also, it is to be ob-
.served tliat .\cting President Stanton entered the institution as a student
with the tirst batch of preparatory youngsters in the fall of iSfxy and
graduated with the first class in 1873. \'ery soon thereafter, he became an
instructor in the institution, and in time its professor of mathematics. His
identification with the institution has been absolutely from its very be-
ginning and his e.xecutive ability in the handling of its affairs and his under-
standing of what is to the interest of the institution are such as the friends
of the institution would wish to see in the one who is at the head of its
affairs. Tiie institution never was more prosperous than it is now.

CHAPTER XLV.
RAILROADS AND DITCHES.

RAILROAD IMPROVEMENTS.

In the past decade. Story County has witnessed the double tracking of
the Northwestern railroad ; the construction of a small railroad through
the southwest corner of the county, the construction of an important line
north and south across the county and the construction and adaptation of
an electric road in the west part of the county. The double tracking of the
Chicago & Northwestern began late in the '90s and was completed early
in this decade, the bulk of the work in this county being done about 1899
and 1900. Not only was the road across the county and state changed
from single track to double track but the line was variously improved,
regardless of expense where improvements were practicable. Curves were
straightened and grades reduced. The most approved signalling devices
were installed, great bridges built, new and heavier rails laid, new depots
built in all the principal towns including Ames and Nevada, any amount
of new equipment procured and the road generally brought to the highest
degree of attainable perfection. Since the completion of this work it has
been generally recognized that the main railroad across Story County is
the best there is in the west.

The cross railroad at Nevada, Cambridge and McCallsburg came after
a renewal of struggles which date back to the '60s. In the beginning of
the end in the latter '90s a family by the name of Wardall, hailing from
Mitchell County, near Osage, came through the county proposing the con-
struction of a road to be known as the Duluth & New Orleans, and
intended by its promoters to be ultimately a great trunk line between the
Gulf of Mexico and the most northern of the Great Unsalted Seas. Their
immediate hope, however, was to organize a company that should build a
line from Des Moines to Osage, connecting at the former point with
various roads, south and south-west, and at the latter point with a plug
railroad, that might be given some importance if it had had a southern
connection. The Wardalls ultimately made Nevada the headquarters of
their operations, and secured here a quite general popular support. They
were undoubtedly sincere, though somewhat visionary, and they would

455

456 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

liave built the railroad if they could have found the money to build
it with. Their resources, however, were quite inadequate, and though
Nevada voted a three per cent tax twice, and some individuals in this
vicinity contributed quite largely, they were not able to induce other com-
munities to take similar interest in their enterprise and failed to enlist
the co-operation of capital in amounts sufficient for actual railroad con-
struction. Possibly one condition that made their difficulties the greater,
was the fact that about the same time, another company was projecteil
at Iowa I-"all> to Iniild a railroad over substantially the same route, which,
by the Iowa l'"alls crowd, it was ])roposed to call the Des Moines, Iowa
Falls & Northern. The Duluth & .\ew Orleans project having been
started first, the Iowa Falls proposition was compelled to await the death
of the former one ; but in time the W'ardalls exhausted their resources,
made for the benefit of their principal backer a bill of sale for such
grading as had Ijeen done and removed from the community.

In the meantime, another project, which was started, was the Des
Moines, Eldora & Nevada Electric Railroad, the principal backer of
which was Mr. J. S. I'olk of Des Moines, who was an undoubted financier
and had made much of his fortune in tlie electric railroad business at Des
Moines. The headquarters of this enterprise, however, was to be at
Nevada, and. the Dululh & New Orleans matter having by this time >ub-
sided, Nevada voted for this entcrjirise a two and one-half mill tax. .Mr.
Polk, however, like others before him, failed to enlist in this matter, the
capital which he had hoped to enlist, and this project died also.

Before the electric jiroposition was quite dead, however, the Iowa
Falls crowd became active and ran two or three surveys through the
county for their line. One of these surveys was u|)on tlic route along
which the road was ultimately built, and another was the same from
Iowa Falls to the crossing of the North-Western at ICast Indian treck.
east of Nevada, fnmi which crossing it was proposed to continue down
the creek valley to Maxwell, and then diagonally across Polk County to
Des Moines. Flow seriously thi> latter route was really contemjilated.
it never has been practicable to .say, but it served at least to make Nevada
contribute, as was desired, towards the construction of the road. Tlie con-
tribution asked was cash donations to buy the right-of-way through the
city and Nevada Township, and a two and one-half per cent tax. Nevada
people became convinced that thi-; road was .i business jiroposition, and
they raised the subscription and bought the right-of-way. They also voted
the tax, its condition being that the depot should be within three-quarters
of a mile of the court house and that all passenger trains should be stopped
at Nevada. There was no trouble about voting the tax, and when the
subscription had been made equal to the options upon the right-of-way.
the location was determined; and from that time, the Iowa Falls ])eoi)lc
proceeded consistently with their enterprise along the line of actual con-
struction. The road was built principally in 1902, the construction being

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 457

pushed southward from Iowa Falls, and both ways from Cambridge. The
lines were joined when the grade was completed through the hill west
of West Indian Creek and a bridge built over that same stream. Tlie
season proved to be wet and unfavorable, and there was much trouble with
the construction, but it was ultimately accomplished. It was several
\ears before the line northward from Iowa Falls was definitely located
and built, there being a choice between Alason City, Charles City and Osage
as northern terminals ; but Mason City w'as idtimately selected and the
road built.

In all of this time, after the construction of the road was actually as-
sured, the question remained distinctly open as to what railroad system
would ultimately control it. It was at first believed that the Illinois
Central would use the road as an outlet to Des Moines, but it did not do
so, and after the road had been extended to Mason City, the theory ob-
tained that it would be absorbed and utilized by the Chicago, Milwaukee
& St. Paul system. In the ultimate, the bargain was substantially struck
for its sale to the Chicago Great-Western, whose line between Kansas
City and the Twin Cities would be much shortened by using this road as
a cut ofif ; but before this deal could be closed, a majority of the stock of
the St. Paul & Des Moines — under which name the Des Moines, Iowa
Falls & Northern had been reorganized — was bought in the open market
early in 191 1 by the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific. This purchase
settled the future of what has been generally known as the Des Moines
Short Line. The Rock Island has rechristened it the St. Paul & Kansas
City Short Line ; and it is to be extended southward from Des Moines to
a connection with the Rock Island's South-Western branch. The general
outcome of the matter is that, after the discussion of a north and south
railroad from the time when the Cedar Rapids & Missouri River Road
reached Nevada, and the stage drivers, driving between Nevada and Des
Moines, were wont to get stuck in the Skunk River bottom, and after
many uncertainties following the actual laying down of the first rails, there
is now assured a trunk line from the leading depot of the south-west to
the leading depot at the upper end of the Mississippi, which line will un-
doubtedly be the shortest and probably the best between these depots and
a more important north and south railroad than people in Nevada or in
the other towns of the county concerned had ever expected to have. In
this consummation, the old timers, who first struggled for a north and
south railroad, have their judgiuent fully vindicated, and the interesting
fact of the matter is that a trunk line railroad north and south should
finally be so located, after the construction of other north and south rail-
roads and the seeming abandonment by every one of the route thus con-
sidered.

Another railroad which was built at first through one corner of the
county and which has later developed into an important railroad, was the
Newton & Northwestern. This road was built from Newton to lloone

458 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

and thence to Cowrie in the southern part of Webster County. The towns
whicli it struck in Story County were Cambridge and Kelley and unlike
other new roads in the county it (Hd not undertake the founding of any
new towns. This road was built in k/:),^ and its coming to Cambridge in
the year following the construction through that place of the Short Line
was a notable event for that place which was thus the first town in the
county to secure three railroads. — the Milwaukee having preceded the
other two. The Newton i^ Northwestern was jjrojccted in the apparent
hope of a sale to the Rock Island, which might have had considerable use
for it; but the Rock Island failed to buy and the road was commercially
a failure from the first. Later however the western end of the line was
converted into an electric line and connections were made with Des Moines,
Ames and Fort Dodge. In making connection with Des Moines, use was
made of the grade which had been constructed for J. S. Polk's Des Moines,
Nevada & Eldora road as far as Ankeny ; and. in making the Ames
connection, the old Ames & College road was absorbed. Connecting
links were built from .\nkeny to a junction north of Huxley and from
Kelley to the College. Also an extension was run to Fort Dodge : and
all of the line from Des Moines to Ames anil l-'ort Dodge was electrified.
This western portion of the Newton & Northwestern was renamed the
Fort Dodge, Des Moines & Southern, and it became an important inter-
urban system of very great imi^ortance to .Ames and other localities in
the west part of the county concerned. The portion of the line east of the
Des Moines Junction, however, has never developed even to the extent
of paying operating expenses ; and seemingly no railroad system has been
willing to buy it at any price.

COUNTY DITCHES.

In this last decade there has developed in the county the enterprise
of tiie systematic construction of county ditches for the purpose of drain-
ing out the farm lands that were es|)ecially needing outlets for drainage.
In i)revious times there had been constructed a few imijortant ditciies by
county authority. .Among them were some impcjrtant ditches on Skunk
River bottom, that changed the channel of the river and rendered more or
less tillable some lands that had been quite too subject to overflow. .\l,so
a ditch of some value had been built near the center of Richland town-
ship; but the spirit which |)romi)tcd the construction of these ditches did
not prove to be infectious, and these enterprises were not immediately
followed by any general movement toward systematic draining. L'p to
this time the farmers whose land needed draining and who had outlets of
their own or wlio could arrange with their downstream neighbors for
outlets tiled out tlicir farms according to their disposition and ability.
P.ut where outlets were not easily to be had the matter languished.

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 459

The first serious attempt upon a large scale to drain out at joint ex-
pense a considerable area of upland but swampy prairie was the Grant
Township ditch No. 5. This ditch had its outlet near West Indian Creek,
three or four miles south of Nevada and extended up a long swale to the
Northwestern railroad. This ditch was poorly engineered, the county
officials were inexperienced in the subject matter, it was projected under
an old and inadequate law, the people concerned were utterly dissatisfied
with their assessments and the ditch was the occasion of trouble from
its inception until the last party who could object had been beaten in
court. The litigation and delays added much to the cost of the ditch and
three assessments were made before its affairs were adjusted. But in spite
of all obstacles the ditch was constructed, the country along its route was
undoubtedly greatly benefited, and into it several collateral county ditches
have since been run.

Troubles such as Story County had with Grant Ditch No 5, along
in 1903, 1904 and 1905, were experienced about the same time in numer-
ous other counties ; for the general revival in prosperity which began near
the close of the last century was enhancing rapidly the value of Iowa land
and the drainage of its wet places was looking more and more like a
business proposition. Hence there arose a strong demand for a ditch
law that would work. Constitutional difficulties were sought to be re-
moved by proposing an amendment to the constitution which was ulti-
mately adopted ; but pending its adoption a fiction was devised that the
drainage of wet farms was necessary to the public health when a petition
should be presented to the board of supervisors and it should appear that
the benefits to the land would be more than the cost of the ditch. A law
to this efifect was passed in 1906 and the supreme court, being by this
time also favorable to ditches as well as the legislature, the law was
sustained and under its provisions the ditch business has been pushed
steadily forward.

The first of the ditches to be built in the county under the new law
were Warren-McCallsburg No. 8, Colo-New Albany No. 9, Richland No.
10, and Warren No. 11. These, however, were not especially large proj-
ects as the matter is now understood and though there was dissension
enough concerning them, they were handled without being thrashed out
in the courts. But along with all but the first two of these ditches, and
lasting considerably longer than any of them, was the Marshall-Story
Ditch No. I. This was a relatively large project, and insomuch as it ex-
tended into the two counties, the boards of supervisors of Marshall and
Story Counties acted together in its administration. The ditch had its
outlet in Marshall county but the territory it drained was largely on the
Moraine in New Albany and Sherman Townships of Story County. It
had several long branches, one of which, known as "C, branch," had suffi-
cient fall so that it might outlet above ground before its junction with
the main ditch. Not only did the drain as a whole involve an expenditure

460 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

around $50,000. but llie conditions surrounding it were sufficiently com-
plicated so that about all of the (luestions that would conveniently be
thought of concerning rules of assessment were raised. Out of this case
the Story County officials, engineers, attorneys and many litigants got
their education in ditcli law. When the assessments against lantl owners
had been made to \rdy for the ditch, a few of the number through whose
land the large tile near the outlet was being constructed were satisfied
with the share allotted to them; but generally the land owners objected
and api^ealed from the finding of the district commissioners and the board
of supervisors to the district court. The assessments had been appor-
tioned according to what was known as the .\shbaugh system, which rep-
resented the first serious attempt to reduce to rule the matter of ilitch
as.sessments, and the reasoning upon which the rule was founded was dis-
tinctly favorable to tiic parties down the ditch and correspondingly un-
favorable to the parties around the head waters of the drainage ba>in.
The appeals were sufficiently numerous to raise all the point- there were
in the case and the whole matter was tried before Judge Lee in one pro-
ceeding. In this situation there was a medley of disputes and the matter
was thrashed out, presented and argued from all angles. Further this
was the first case to be tried in any county of the state involving proceed-
ings under the new ditch law. When the trial was over and
the judge with the contending attorneys and the engineer had been
out for a drive over the district the judge rendered his decision re-
ducing the assessment on some of the pieces at the upper end of the
ditch but not undertaking, either to lay down a new rule of assessment
or to perfect the Ashbaugh rule. Such a decision might not seem to .settle
very much but somehow it has not since been necessary in the county, not-
withstanding a very large increase in the ditch business, to have any such
wrangle over a ditch assessment again. Officials, attorneys, engineer and
others have understood themselves and the ditch subject very much better
since the trial of that case. In respect to other ditches there have been
occasional appeals and occasionally an appellant has gotten a reduction
in his assessment ; but the general idea has prevailed that the ditches are
a good thing, that they are bound to be built, and when built will have to
be paid for; and that the assessments which officials know ww how to
make will, for the most part, stand in the courts.

Since the Marshall-Story case was started there have been also started
some thirty-five county ditches and eight or ten joint county ditches. Some
of these ditches have made small progress while others are completed and
paid for. But altogether they stand for a tremendous volume of real
estate improvement. Steadily the ditches have been multiplied and their
scope enlarged until through considerable sections of the comity they lie
snuglv together separated only by their respective water sheds. In other
cases liie ])rojects are small and. in fact, represent only the effort of one
or two progressive farmers to force the drain they need thnuigh the

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 461

land of an unaccommodating neighbor. But, large or small, they stand
for a general and effective purpose to develop the productive resources
of the county. The construction of everyone of these ditches is followed
by probably an equal expenditure for connecting tile drains on farms where
the outlet is now provided. It would probably be a very moderate estimate
that since the systematic movement began the county has put a million
dollars into public and private drains ; and when, later, the corn is seen
waving where had been a profitless swale the value of the improvement
is appreciated. In the most of this more important work the engineer
in charge has been John M. Wells, the county surveyor ; and any just
record of the county's achievement in this regard must accord to him a
liberal measure of credit.

CHAPTER XL\I.

POLITICS OF 1-AST DECADE.

In the politics of the last decade. Story County has been principally a
Cummins County. The present senator and former governor had long
had many admirers in the county ; and when he was a candidate for the
senatorship in 1899 against Senator (iear. Story County heartily endorsed
him, and its senator, iMtchpatrick. and representative. N'eneman. were
both favorable to him. His senatorial candidacy, however, having proved
unsuccessful, his later candidacy for governor, in 1901, found ready ap-
proval in the county. There was at the time a difference of o])inion. even
among his friends, as to the advisability of his candidacy : but the Re-
publican county convention endorsed him by twenty majority, and a light-
ing delegation went to Cedar Rapids in his behalf. In the course of
the next few years, not only the state, but the counties as well, aligned
their politics more and more according to whether one did or did not co-
operate with or support Gov. Cummins in his aspirations and policies; but,
in Story County, the Cummins sentiment upon the whole gained steadily.
Only once in all the years of the Cummins fight did the county fail to sup-
port the governor. In the spring of 1904 it came about that the attitude
of the county was important in the matter of electing delegates to the Re-
l)ublican National convention ; and both the Cummins side and the other
side, which alx)ut this time came to be known as the "standpat" side,
ran candidates for national delegates. The result was a hot and close
fight: and the endorsement by the county convention of Dr. j. I. 1 lostetter
of Colo, standpat candidate, as the county's candidate for delegate against
\V. J. \'eneman. who was supported by the Cummins or "Progressive"
faction, llnstcttcr was duly elected by the district convention; but the
local standpat victory was never repeated.

The Biennial Elections Amendment was adopted in the fall of i()04.
and there was neither state nor county convention in 1003, but in \(fO(>.
when Cummins ran the third time for governor. Story County held a jirimary
and endorsed Cummins by nearly 1200 majority over Editor Perkins of
Sioux City. In 1908, when Cummins was a candidate for senator against
Senator .Mlison. he again received the support of the county, although his
majority this time was held down to nearly 700, which, under the circmn-
stances, was a good deal for the op|>osition to do. After the death of

462

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 463

Senator Allison in August of that year, and the calling by the general
assembly of the second primary in connection with the November election,
the sentiment of the county became more pronounced, and the majority
for Cummins over Lacey was between 1600 and 1700.

Along with the Cummins fight was the biennial contest between Cap-
tain Hull and Judge Prouty, both of Des Moines, for the former's seat
in congress. The tight began in 1902, following Cummins' first nomination
for governor, and there was a desperate and very uncertain fight for the
Polk delegation ; but Hull carried the two largest precincts of Des Moines
by an aggregate majority of 20 votes and so secured the Polk delegation.
In this contest, the friends of Capt. Hull controlled the Polk County Re-
publican committee, and though the opposition submitted to the result,
they felt quite strongly that they had been defrauded and charges of un-
fair treatment were freely made. Partly or wholly on this account and
after tlie Polk County primary, wherein Prouty had been substantially
eliminated as a candidate by his defeat in his own county, his friends
made a still hunt in Story County and secured his endorsement in the
county primaries ; so the Story delegation went to the district convention
at Perry opposing Hull; but the other counties fell in for Hull after the
Polk convention, and he was easily nominated. In 1904, the Hull-Prouty
contest was resumed in Polk County ; but conditions had somewhat
changed.

Upon this occasion it was the Prouty side that controlled the I'olk
County committee and that side in its turn, proceeded to protect its own
rights according to its own story and to get even for its real or fancied
wrongs as the other side understood it. Out of these proceedings, there
arose a tissue ballot issue that for a long time figured in the politics of
the district and unquestionably reacted disastrously upon Prouty. Hull's
victory in Polk was decisive ; and in so much, as the standpatters this
time carried the Story County convention, there was no break in the
unanimity of Hull's renomination. In 1906, upon the occasion of Cum-
mins' third candidacy for governor and of Hull's ninth candidacy for
congress, a state of armed neutrality was maintained between the Polk
County factions. Prouty refrained from running for congress, and
Hull and Cummins refrained respectively from bothering each other; so
the congressional fight did not get into Story County that year ; but in
1908, the primary system having been in the meantime adopted for the
state as well as for the county, Prouty once more challenged Hull, this
time for the whole district. Attention in the canvass was for the most
part centered on the Cummins-Allison fight ; but when the votes were
counted, the congressional vote was found to be desperately close, and
Hull was finally renominated over Prouty, after various recountings, by
about forty votes. In this election, Prouty's majority in the county was
officially declared to be 184, which was not very much for that side in
Story County. In 1908, the same fight was renewed; but this time Hull's

464 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

friends, niany of them, ceased to tight for him. Prouty carried Story
County by more than i,000, and the district by 3.000.

A local matter that figured in these two last tights was the post office
building at Ames. Just prior to the primaries of 1908. Congressman Hull
secured the passage through congress of a bill for the erection of a gov-
ernment building for post office purposes at Ames. This local improve-
ment was much appreciated ; and while the voters at Ames did not all vote
for Hull on its account, many of them did feel under obligations to re-
frain from voting against him. In 1910, however, the novelty of the post
office had worn ofT, and no actual beginning had been made for the erection
of the post office; so the people of Ames appeared to regard that obliga-
tion as canceled, and Ames went for Prouty with the rest of the county
and the district.

In 1908, Chas. R. Quadc of Ames was elected delegate from the Sev-
enth District to the Republican National convention and co-operated in
the nomination of President Taft. This election calls to attention the
fact that while Story County has missed congressional and other honors of
the first order, it has been singularly successful in getting delegates to
the Republican National conventions. The series of victories in this
respect began with the election of W. D. Lucas of Ames from tlie old
Ninth District in 1880, he going to Chicago for Blaine and ultimately
joining in the nomination of Garfield. In 1884. in the Tenth District, as
it was then constituted. Story County was not able to get a delegate ; but
Oley Nelson of Sheldahl was made an alternate. In 1888, Story being
freshly in tlie Seventli Di-trict, D. A. I'.igelow of Ames was endorsed by
the county, and was promptly accepted, particularly by Major Conger's
friends in Dallas and other counties, and was easily elected. He went to
the convention for .Mlison, but voted finally for Harrison. In 1892. H.
C. Boardman, who was then chairman of the county committee and after-
wards state senator, received the endorsement of the county as a Har-
rison man ; and Warren County giving similar support to Mr. Berry, the
two counties co-operated and witli the help of other Harrison men in
the district, secured easily the election of both. They went to Minneapolis
and voted for Harrison. In 1896. Story County was not able in the
first instance to secure a delegate: but ). A. Mills of Nevada was chosen
an alternate. Later, his principal. Dr. Bevington, of Winterset. became a
candidate for congress, and decided not to attend tlie convention, and Mr.
Mills was thus promoted to sit as a delegate and voted for .Mlison. In
1900, Story County's claim for this particular honor would liave seemed
to have been pretty well disposed of; but tlic situation opened favorably
and \V. O. Payne of Nevada was iJri-Nontcil l)y the county and was elected
without opposition. He went to Philadelphia and voted for McKinley's
second nomination, and also (without much enthusiasm) for Roosevelt's
nomination for vicc-i>resident. In K)04- a^ before suggested. Story be-
came the pivot for the time being of the Seventh District and presented

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 465

Dr. Hostetter and secured his election. He went to Chicago and voted
for Roosevelt. In 1908, the county presented C. R. Ouade as before
stated; and although there was some opposition, the record of the county
in this respect was not to be broken and he was elected, the sixth delegate
to sit from Story County in as many successive Republican National con-
ventions. On the other hand, Story County has been directly represented
in two Democratic National conventions : E. B. Potter was delegate in
1864 to the Chicago convention, which nominated AlcClellan and declared
the war a failure, and his brother-in-law, E. D. Fenn, was a delegate to
the convention of 1880, at Cincinnati, where he gave enthusiastic support
to the ultimately successful candidacy of Gen. Hancock.

In the state senate, during the decade, C. J. A. Ericson of Boone and J.
A. Fitchpatrick of Nevada have alternated in their service. Mr. Eric-
son, having been first elected in 1895, was superseded in 1899 by Mr.
Fitchpatrick. In 1903, Mr. Fitchpatrick as the choice of Story County,
gracefully retired, and Mr. Ericson, having again secured the endorsement
of Boone County at the end of a hard struggle with S. L. Aloore, was
nominated without opposition in the district convention. Ericson's term
was extended one year by the adoption of the Biennial Elections Amend-
ments, and in 1908 he again retired, and the primary system having in
the meantime been adopted, Mr. Fitchpatrick was again nominated by
the common consent of the Republicans of both counties and served in
the sessions of 1909 and 191 1.

For the house of representatives, in the same perio<l, W. M. Greeley
of .^mes, after having been barely defeated by F'itchpatrick for senator
in the county primary of 1899, was easily nominated for rejiresentative
in 1901 and was again chosen in 1903, his term also being extended by the
Biennial Elections Amendment. In 1906, and in 1908, Geo. C. White of
Nevada w^as nominated and elected distinctly as a Cummins candidate in
the county. In 1910, factional divisions having in a measure disappeared,
a lively contest arose over various issues between W. P. George of Ames
and M. S. Helland of Slater. It was a vigorous contest and resulted hand-
somely in the nomination of Helland. Mr. Helland, however, was taken
suddenly ill after the primaries and died two days before the county
convention, which passed Resolutions of Regard, and after some balloting,
nominated Mr. George, who was duly elected; although in the ensuing
election, it is to be recorded that, for the first time, the distinctly Prohibi-
tion candidate made a real showing, Lars J. Skromme of Warren Town-
ship running on that ticket and getting a considerable heavier vote than
the Democratic candidate, although not seriously endangering George's
election.

Reference has been several times made to the Biennial Elections
Amendment, which was adopted in 1904, abolishing the elections in the
odd numbered years and making various changes in the situation in the
state. A similar amendment had been adopted by the people in 1900 but

466 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

liad been set aside by the supreme court on the ground of informalities in
the form of its submission. The amendment of 1904 was challenged on
the ground of inherent tlefect in that it made various amendments to the
constitution, all of whicli were submiiteil in a single vote; whereas, the
constitutional provision as to amendments is that separate amendments
shall be voted upon separately. The question as to the multiplicity of this
amendment was raised in Story County in a case originating in Richland
Township and entitled Lobaugh vs. Cook, Lobaugh being a townshij)
trustee whose term the amendment extended, and Cook, the township
clerk. By a general arrangement, the other trustees instructed Cook to
post notices changing the place of voting in the township for the election
in 1905, and Lobaugh as the trustee liable to have his term again short-
ened, undertook to enjoin the posting of such notices. The issue was
trivial in itself; but it raised the question of the validity of the amendment
and the case attracted much attention in the state. The case was carried
through the district court to the supreme court, b(ith courts holding the
amendment to be valid ; although the reasoning of the courts was variously
commented upon by the bar of the state.

In 1898, J. Q. Burgess had been promoted froiu deputy auditor to
auditor, and Jay Page had succeeded Anfin Ersland as recorder. .Also,
C. M. Soper had entered upon his service in the clerk's office, defeating
H. E. Myrah, and in 1900, these officers had been renominated. Geo. Un-
derwood, with the others, for county attorney. In 1901. the bunch who
had been nominated in 1899, were renominated, and in 1902, C. P. McCord.
who had been deputy clerk under Soper, was promoted to the clerkship,
and Soper took the deputyship. O. B. Peterson defeated Frank Boynton,
the deputy auditor, in a hard tight for the auditorship. and Ole Langland
made a very successful run for recorder. In 1903, Fred Hansen, as county
superintendent, made the first earnest endeavor to break the two term
rule, and he nearly succeeded; but I. C. Welty was nominated by some 200
majority. In this year, E. A. Fawcett, now cashier of the First Na-
tional Bank of .Nevada, was advanced from the deputy's place to that
of treasurer, and W. A. Ricketts of .Ames was chosen for his notablv suc-
cessful term as sheriff. In i')04, the successful candidates of 1902 were
renominated, and I'llw.ird .M. McCall also secured without opposition
the nomination for liic county attorncyslii]). In 1906, the Biennial Flec-
tions .Amendment having thrown out the election of 1905, the whole bunch
of county officers came up for rcnomiiiation or succession, hut were
mostly renominated. O. R. Peterson, however, retired from the auditor's
office and was succeeded by his deputy, F. G. Dunahugh ; and C. .M. .^oper
who had been deputy clerk, under the McCord administration, became
chief in the office again. M. L. Tesdall. deputy recorder, was also pro-
moted to the chief i)lace in his office in place of ( )le i.angland. In 1908,
Dunahugh, Soper and Tesdall were renominated, and with them were
chosen Fred Warrick of Nevada for sheriff; Frank X. Fowler of Ames

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 467

for treasurer, H. E. Hadley of Nevada, for county attorney, and Ira J.
Scott of Ames, for county superintendent, all over a field of opposing
candidates. In respect to the office of sheriff, the provision of the law
requiring the leading candidate to have at least 35 per cent, of the whole
number of votes cast in order to be nominated, became effective, War-
rick having a plurahty, but lacking a little of the required per cent. Tliis
nomination therefore, went to the convention in which, after some ballot-
ing, Warrick was nominated. In 1910, Dunahugh in the auditor's office
gave way to his deputy, C. A. Batman, who was duly nominated ; but Soper
in the clerk's office and Tesdall in the recorder's office challenged the third
term rule and although the opposition was vigorous, both were renominated
and later elected. .\lso, the candidates first nominated in 1908 were duly
renominated and elected.

In all these years the county primaries have commanded, uniformly,
the attention of the great body of Republican voters in the county, the
attendance at the Republican primary, in fact, being ordinarily, perhaps
a thousand larger than the Republican vote in the general election ; so
great a discrepancy is to be accounted for rather by lack of interest
in the election than by the participation in the Republican primary of
members of the opposition parties, it being a recognized fact that the
membership of the opposition parties has not been especially numerous
in the county.

In judicial matters, there have been some fights. In 1901, Judge
Weaver having been nominated for supreme judge, a convention was lield
at Boone to name his successor. Story County presented E. II. .Addi-
son, and Judge Evans was also a candidate, but the nomination was finally
captured bv some peculiar convention methods by J. H. Richard of Web-
ster City. At this time, the three judgeships of the Eleventh Juthcial Dis-
trict were held by the three counties of the district which were in the
Tenth Congressional District, Richard being from Hamilton County ;
Whitaker from Boone County, and Kenyon, wIkj had succeeded Birdsall
upon the latter's resignation on account of failing health, from Webster
County. In 1902, Kenyon declined a renomination, and there were several
candidates for his place. Story County again presented Addison, but
Judge Evans was nominated, and Whitaker and Richard were also re-
nominatetl. After this convention. Judge Kenyon resigned, and .Mr. Evans
declined the temporary appointment. A si.\ months' term in the judgeship
was therefore open, for which Governor Cummins appointed Mr. G. W.
Dyer of Nevada, who had twice been presented by .Story County for
judicial honors, in 1894 and i8g8, and this appointment was regarded as
a worthy recognition. In 1906, Judges Evans, Whitaker and Richard
were all candidates for renomination, and the renomination of Judge
Evans was generaly conceded, but there was definite opposition to both
Whitaker and Richard; and the judicial convention at Iowa Falls was
one of unusual interest. Its presiding officer was W. J. Moir of Eldora,

468 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

a veteran ])iilitii.ian of the Fifties anil Sixties, who had been the ])resicHng
officer of the famous congressional convention at Webster City in 1882.
After the nomination of Judge Evans by acclamation, the convention set-
tled down to balloting for the other judgeships, the candidates, besides the
retiring judges, being Lee of Story, Wright of Webster and Williams of
Hardin. The balloting continued all the afternoon without result ; but,
in the end, Webster (."ounty, which had sought to nominate its candidate
in ])lace of Richard but to hold Whitaker on the bench, was compelled to
al)andon this alliance with ISoone and accept one with Story. This alliance
being afl^ccted. Judge Wright was nominated on tlie first ballot after supper,
and Judge Lee, of .\mes, was nominated on the next ballot. In 1908,
the death of Judge I'ishop occasioned a vacancy on the sujireme bench,
to which a Republican State convention, especially called, nominated Judge
Evans, thus occasioning a vacancy on the district bench. The nomination
for this vacancy was made in a special convention and the balloting resulted,
after a time, in the nomination of C. A. Albrook of Eldora. The district
bench is thus constituted of Lee, Wright and Albrook, being generally re-
garded as quite as satisfactory, taken as a whole, as any that has ever
presided in the county, and the whole bench was unanimously renomi-
nated and reelected in 1910.

CHAPTER XLVII.
CONCLUSION.

No one will understand better tlian does the author the imperfections
of the foregoing recital of incidents and events in the History of Story
County. The work was begun with a feeling tliat it would take about
all the stuff on the subject he could find to fill a book ; it is concluded, or
rather suspended, with a recognition that there are almost limitless mat-
ters pertaining to the general subject, which the author has found it im-
practicable to enlarge upon; and doubtless there will be a thought that
some one of them have been ignored. In preparing the matter the author
has been governed by no strict rule; but as a general practice he lias
endeavored to note those matters which might be of interest to the county
as a whole, rather than to search out in detail matters which would be of
especial interest to parts of the county but which have not particularly
concerned the county as a unit. In this respect, however, the finished,
or abandoned, work is farthest of any from the original intention. It was
in the beginning designed to go more particularly than now appears into
the history of the towns and townships of the county ; but the material
for such narration has proved to be beyond our reach. Some information
we have gathered from some spots ; but the requests that we have made
for local assistance have been productive of very meager results, and the
failures thus experienced have discouraged the making of other requests.
Hence it has proved to be really necessary to make the review general as
to the various localities of the county and to confine attention, perhaps
unduly,'to the classes of subjects that are enlarged upon.

The writer began the work with a genuine admiration for the people
who founded Story County and who in the intervening years have made
the county what it now is, and he drops the work with this admiration
greatly increased. If he shall have been able to convey to the reader some
of the sentiment thus indicated, he will have succeeded in what has been
the guiding purpose of the work. Without going too far, and too labori-
ously into the details, it has been sought by narration, incident and illus-
tration to indicate the steps by which the county has been built, and to
account for the present conditions, so far as the writer is able to do so,
and with this accounting to give the credit where the credit most appears
to be due.

469

470 HISTORY OF STO^IY COUNTY

This much we can say conscientiously for the history ; it is a Story
County work, and it is about the people who have lived in the county,
have been a part of the county and have helped to make the county what
the county is. Wherein we believe it has failed the worst is that it has
not comprehended more of these people and told more about them ; but
there is a biograjihical sup])lenient to this history, prepared under the
direction of the ])ul)lishers. and while the author of this volume has no
authiirity or responsibilii\ with respect to such supplement he has never-
theless not felt called upon save in exceptional cases to duplicate the
matter which is the especial province of that ])ortion of the entire work.
Hut so far as we have been al)le to go, we have tried tn stick lo the te.xt.
What we regret most about it is that we have not been able to go further.

-A few matters in particular that have been very slightly, if at all, en-
larged upon have been churches, newspapers, baiik>. jjublic schools, secret
orders and highways, .'^ome of these subjects were referred to, more or
less, in the {)ioneer chapters, but as the work progressed the particular
places for telling about them did not ai)pear: and several of these subjects
are large enough to afford the basis of a separate work. As to all of
these matters collectively, however, it should be said that they are features
of an enlightened commiuiity as the same is understood in the United
States and they are all of them distinctly features of Story County.

As to churches, the .\nies iia|)ers have recently been discussing with
some .spirit the (luestion whether the nine churclie> witli which that city
is endow'ed are all really needed or whether the interests of churches and
city alike would be i)ronioted by some cotisolidations. Nevada has seven
churches in regidar o])eration and has not yet rai>e(l that (|uestion. None
of the outside towns, we think, liave quite >o man\- churches, but in every
one of them the church interests are amply rei)resented in proportion to
the size of the town, while scattered through the county are quite a ntnnbcr
of strictly rinal cluuches. In the ccnmty as a whole the .Methodist de-
nomination is i)rol)al)ly strongest and it certainly has at .Ames the largest
and finest chm\li in the county. In tlie .Vorwegian settlements the Luth-
eran church largely predominates, and its dominance is so strong that it
is found divided into several distinct denominational organizations, the
differences betw-een which are not a matter for present analysis. The Evan-
gelical church is strong in the eastern side of the county and the United
llrethren are a force at .Ames. Catholics are found chiefly through the
central part of the coimty, as arc members of the Church of Chri.st. There
are Presbyterians at .\evada and Congregationalists at .Ames, 'lite Sev-
enth Day .Adventists are now very strong in and about Nevada. Friends
antl Cumberland Presbyterians are found in .several places. All over the
county there is fair opportunity for choice of religious affiliations and a
creditable representation of church interest and zeal. The growth of the
churches has been gratlual and persistent. When the denomination in
any place has s|)urred itself up tn build ;i new church, the other denomi-

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 471

nations have helped ; and probably it would be impossible to find in the
county — certainly so in the larger towns — a church edifice that is not a
monument to the liberality and interest of the community as a whole. In
the building of these edifices there has been a creditable but not excessive
rivalry ; and the churches as a rule are in good financial condition and
their pastors well supported.

It would probably be easier to run down the particular history of the
newspapers of the county than of any other of the neglected subjects. But
the earliest newspapers have been mentioned and the later ones have
been largely merged in the general business activities of their communities.
The conditions before mentioned which have favored the development
of the smaller towns of the county have favored the establishment of
local newspapers in such towns. So that every one of these towns that
is to be fairly regarded as a township center has at least one newspaper.
The oldest and undoubtedly the most successful of these local papers is
the Maxwell Tribune, while the \'isergutten, published at Story City in
the Norwegian language, has a very large circulation among the readers
of that language. In Ames, the Intelligencer, which was the first paper
there to make a livelihood, is continued under the present management of
F. R. Conaway. but has a rival in the Times, which was established there
twenty years ago by Lon G. Hardin. In Nevada, the Representative,
which as the Advocate was the original paper in the county, has for nearly
thirty years been published by W. P. and W. O. Payne. The Watchman,
which was established in the early '70s, as the political opposition paper,
>urvived but a short time the death of its editor V. A. Ballou in 1906.
But the Journal, which was founded in 1895, by the Benjamin Bros., has
in recent years been a notable success. Because of the number of out-
side papers the county has more than the average number of papers. But
it would probably be an accepted statement that their quality is not on
this account below standard but is in fact correspondingly high.

The banks of the county began as private institutions, which in the
middle '70s were conducted by Otis Briggs and O. B. Button at Nevada
and W. D. Lucas at Ames. By succession the Button bank at Nevada has
become the First National, while J. G. Button, a son of O. B., has become
president of the Farmers' Bank, which is the successor of the Briggs
Bank. The Lucas Bank at Ames has become the Union National of W.
M. Greeley, while Parley Sheldon heads a very large private bank. The
People's Savings at Nevada and the Ames Savings at Ames are respec-
tively the third banking institution in each town and both of them strong.
Out through the county, substantially every town has one or two banks,
generally two and sometimes three. Altogether there are 28 banks in the
county with about $900,000 banking capital and close to $4,000,000 de-
posits.

The public school system of the county began with the first settle-
ments in the countv and it spread gradually over the county as the county

472 HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY

was settled up. until w itli very few irregularities due to the course of
streams and the location of towns, it comprised one school for each four
square miles of territory. This number is, however, to be considered as
the maximum, for the later tendency is toward a consolidation through
the elimination of the smallest schools and the transjjortation of pupils
where necessary to some of the larger and graded schools. Tlie nicest
striking illustration of this tendency has been at Fernald in Richland
Township, where four rural schools have been consolidated into one graded
school. While Grant Township is setting the example for the whole state
of substituting three groups of graded schools — three to the group — for its
aggregation of nine ungraded schools. The towns virtually all have high
schools with annual graduations, and the whole school system of the county
may be regarded as fairly up-to-date and progressive.

The secret orders of the county began with the founding of the Masonic
Lodge in Nevada in 1856 and the founding of the Odd Fellows' Lodge
at Nevada in 1857. These lodges have uniformly prospered and as other
towns grew up kindred lodges have been established in them. In 1882 the
first lodge of the Knights of Pythias was established at Nevada, which
lodge has also prospered and has been succeeded by other lodges of the
same order in several other towns of the county. These three being the
strongest of the fraternal orders of the country, their local standing is
about as would be expected. Of the insurance orders the first was the
Ancient Order of United Workmen, which was founded in the middle
70s and was quite successful for about ten years, after which it declined.
It was the first of the assessment insurance concerns to acquire consider-
able growth, but it failed to grade its assessments according to age, and
after a time, the young fellows found that they were carrying tiie burden
for the old men. Later the Modern Woodmen of America came into
vogue with a graded scale of assessments, and when this scale proved to be
too low it had the fortitude to raise the same. Under this policy the order
has distinctly prospered and i-; far stronger than any other similar organ-
ization. The order of Red .Men i> a younger fraternal and insurance or-
ganization that has pitched its wigwams in the county and has made con-
siderable progress. The Masons, Odd l'"ellows. Woodmen and Red Men
all have their associated feminine organizations, to wit : The Eastern Star,
Rebekahs, Royal Neighbors and Daughters of Pocahontas. But the
Knights of Pythias have so far failed to introduce their Pytliian Sisters.
An independently feminine organization, however, is the P. E. O. Sister-
hood, which is the only order of that class to gain considerable standing
in the country, and which has one of its earliest chapters at Nevada and
also one at .\nies. both of them strong and highly rcjircsentativc organiza-
tions. Women's clubs abound, also, both in town and country.

.■\n order which stands in a class by itself is the flrand Army of the
Republic, the first post of wiiich in the county was established at Nevada
in 1884. This organization spread rapidly throughout the county until it

HISTORY OF STORY COUNTY 473

liad practically exhausted the number of those who by reason of their
service in the war of the Rebellion were eligible to its membership. In
later years this organization, having no source from which to recruit, has
been declining in numbers through the course of nature. But it gains
in honor as it loses in strength. The affiliated organization of the Woman's
Relief Corps has been habitually strong and active and, not being similarly
restricted in the matter of new members, it continues in full vigor. Other
patriotic orders are the Sons of \'eterans and the \'eterans of the Spanish
War, both of which are represented in the county.

As to roads, the first of them in the county were trails and next of
consequence were the old state roads which followed the most convenient
route from one pioneer town to another. As the country settled the
roads were crowded by stretches onto the section lines, but angled at con-
venience across the intervening pieces of prairie. But in time these pieces
were fenced also and then came in increasing measure the need for sys-
tematic road improvement. It would hardly be true to say, however,
that the improvement followed immediately upon the need. But gradually
the money and labor that have been expended by county and townships
have told in their results. Concrete culverts have replaced wood upon
most of the roads, while iron bridges span most of the larger streams.
Grading and graveling and ditching have all been resorted to and in later
years the King drag has had a marked effect on the smoothing of the
highways. The age of concrete pavement has not yet come but it is to
some degree imagined and by its very suggestion is indicative of the in-
creased disposition to spend money for good roads ; while it is a fact that
through a great part of the year Story County now has good roads. The
time when people stayed at home or away from town because the roads
were impassable is practically forgotten, and the troubles that are now
experienced in the spring are trifles in comparison with the conditions
in the olden time.

But this story must stop somewhere. Story is a great county in the
very center of a great state. Conditions that retarded its earliest develop-
men have been found to promote its ultimate prosperity. It is a county
which represents the best of American standards in thrift, education,
politics, industry, transportation, charity, good fellowship and all else that
goes to make up the ideal of American existence. It is a good thing to
live in such a county. It is a privilege to set down something of its story.
To the advisory committee and to all the many others who have helped
in one way or another to get this story together we herewith return most i,
grateful acknowledgments!